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The character "豇" designates the cowpea, a legume introduced to China from Africa, and its formation is a phono-semantic compound incorporating the semantic radical "豆", meaning bean, with the phonetic component "工" indicating pronunciation. Created to name this specific plant, the character's meaning has consistently referred to the cowpea since its adoption, with no significant semantic shifts recorded. The use of "豆" as a semantic marker derives from its evolved sense concerning pulses, while "工" serves as a phonetic element despite modern phonetic divergence.