About
靛 is a phono-semantic compound: the left radical 青 (blue, green, cyan) anchors the character's meaning in the visual spectrum, while the right component 定 gives its pronunciation. It was developed to designate indigo, a deep blue dye historically extracted from certain plant species. The character is commonly used to describe the dark blue pigment used in traditional textiles, as well as indicating one of the primary colors of the rainbow, serving as both a noun for the dye and an adjective for the hue.
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