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The character 鸁 is a phono-semantic compound specifically created to refer to a particular water bird. The radical 鳥, placed at the bottom of the character, establishes the semantic category of birds, making the character's avian meaning immediately clear. The upper portion of the character is a complex graphic element that is identical to the phonetic component used in characters like 嬴; in 鸁, this element supplies the pronunciation. This character is found primarily in classical literary sources and in the specialized vocabulary of biology, and it serves as an excellent illustration of how the Chinese script builds highly specific zoological names by combining a standard categorical radical with a complex phonetic marker.
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