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The character "麂" has consistently referred to a small species of barking deer since its earliest usage. Its structure combines the radical 鹿, which denotes the general category of deer-like animals, with the phonetic component 几, which suggests its ancient pronunciation. This composition is stable across both traditional and simplified forms, as the character was not altered during script simplification. The meaning of the character has remained specific to this particular animal throughout its documented history, without significant semantic shift.
Etymology Hide
