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The character 魇 (traditional 魘) is a phono-semantic compound for nightmares or sleep paralysis. The semantic radical 鬼 'ghost' at the bottom ties it to nocturnal terrors and the sensation of being pressed down by an unseen entity. The upper element 厌 is the simplified version of 厭, which means 'to press down' or 'suppress'; it provides the sound yǎn and reinforces the idea of pressure. The arrangement of this heavy, suppressing phonetic above the ghost radical captures the oppressive physical and psychological experience of night terrors, a meaning that has persisted from early medical and mythological writings into modern psychology.
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