About
坭 is a phono-semantic compound and an alternative written form of the much more common character 泥, sharing the same meaning of mud, clay, soil, or dirt. It pairs the semantic radical 土 (earth, soil) on the left with the phonetic 尼 (ní) on the right. While the standard 泥 uses the water radical 氵 to convey the wet, viscous quality of mud, this variant employs the earth radical to foreground the solid soil aspect. Today, its use is largely limited to regional dialects, specific place names in southern China, and specialist vocabulary for pottery clays.
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