About
馊 is a phono-semantic character combining the simplified radical 饣 (shí, 'food'), which signals the meaning relates to eating or edibility, and the right-side component 叟 (sǒu, 'old man'), which provides the pronunciation. The traditional form is 餿, using the unsimplified food radical 食. Its core sense describes food that has spoiled, turned sour, or become rancid. This physical notion extended figuratively to rotten or unworkable ideas and suggestions, commonly seen in phrases for terrible plans or poor advice.
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