About
蠡 is structured with 彖 (tuàn, "pig" or "snout") atop two 虫 (chóng, "insect") radicals. It originally denoted a wood-boring insect or the action of insects eating into wood, hence the insect components. Now primarily a proper noun, it appears in Fan Li (范蠡) and the ancient name Wuli (五蠡) for Lake Tai (太湖). In a different reading, it refers to a calabash or gourd ladle, showing the shift from a specialized insect term to names and a household object.
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