About
The character for wheat bran, "麸", is a simplified form derived from the traditional character "麩". Its structure is consistently phonetic-semantic, combining the wheat-related radical "麦" (a simplified form of "麥") with the phonetic component "夫", which suggests its pronunciation. The original character "麩" used the traditional wheat radical "麥" alongside the same "夫" component. Its core meaning has always been specifically "wheat bran" or "gluten", a byproduct of processing wheat, with no significant semantic shift away from this concrete, material referent.
Etymology Hide
