About
The character 鼹, originating from its traditional form 鼴, is a phonetic compound constructed from the semantic radical 鼠, classifying it as a rodent-like animal, and the phonetic component 晏, which historically indicated its pronunciation. In the simplified form, this phonetic element is written as 妟. Throughout its documented use, the character has specifically referred to the mole, a small burrowing mammal, with no substantial alteration to this core meaning over time.