About
The character "伥" in its traditional form "倀" is a phono-semantic compound composed of the human radical 人 (亻) and the phonetic component 長 (长), which originally suggested its pronunciation. Its early meaning was "reckless" or "frantic", but this meaning became obsolete as the character became specialized within a specific mythological context. It now exclusively denotes the spirit of a person devoured by a tiger, a ghost compelled to serve the beast by luring other victims, a concept solidified in the idiom "为虎作伥". The simplified form retains the human radical but replaces the phonetic with the simpler 长, maintaining the same core meaning tied to this supernatural servitude.
Etymology Hide
