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褓 is a phono-semantic compound: the clothing radical 衤 on the left indicates cloth, while the component 保 (bǎo) on the right means "protect" and also supplies the pronunciation. Together they represent the swaddling bands used to wrap and safeguard an infant. The character almost always appears in the compound 襁褓, which denotes these baby wrappings and is used metaphorically to refer to early infancy or the very beginning of something.
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