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A phono-semantic compound, 麈 is built from the semantic radical 鹿 ('deer') on top, which assigns it to the deer family, and the phonetic element 主 below. The original meaning was a large deer or elk. In later usage, the character shifted to denote a fly whisk made from the tail hair of that deer, an object wielded by scholars and monks during philosophical debates and frequently mentioned in historical texts.
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