About
醛 (quán) is a modern phono-semantic compound. Its semantic radical 酉 (yǒu) relates to alcohol and fermentation, while the phonetic component 全 (quán) provides the pronunciation. Coined by modern chemists to translate "aldehyde", it does not appear in classical texts. This specialized character is used exclusively in organic chemistry nomenclature for a class of compounds characterized by a formyl group, often produced by oxidizing alcohols. The choice of the alcohol radical logically reflects the chemical relationship between alcohols and aldehydes.