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The character 姹 is a phono-semantic compound. Its left side, the radical 女 (nǚ), indicates the semantic category related to women, while the right side, 宅 (zhái), provides the phonetic component. The traditional form is 奼, which uses 乇 (zhé) as the phonetic element. Historically, this character has consistently meant a beautiful young woman, conveying feminine beauty and grace. It appears often in classical literature and modern poetic compounds, as in the idiom 姹紫嫣红 (chàzǐyānhóng), which literally describes beautiful purples and stunning reds, metaphorically depicting vibrantly colored flowers in a spring landscape.
Etymology Hide
