About
The character 雉 primarily denotes a pheasant, a game bird noted for its colorful plumage. It is formed by 矢 'arrow' on the left and the semantic radical 隹 'short-tailed bird' on the right, suggesting a bird taken by hunters' arrows. In addition to this primary sense, the character had an unrelated ancient use as a unit for measuring the thickness of city walls. That architectural meaning did not survive, leaving 'pheasant' as the sole modern interpretation.
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