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The character "貉" is structured with the animal radical "豸" on the left, classifying it as a beast, and the component "各" on the right, which historically served as a phonetic indicator, forming a phono-semantic compound that originally referred specifically to the raccoon dog. Over time, while retaining its primary zoological meaning, the character's usage expanded into metaphorical contexts, most notably in the idiom "一丘之貉", where it denotes individuals of similarly bad character, reflecting a semantic extension from a literal animal to a pejorative term for people.
Etymology Hide
