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柞 is a phono-semantic compound: 木 (mù) 'wood, tree' indicates the meaning, while 乍 (zhà) 'suddenly, newly' supplies the sound. The character has two distinct readings. Pronounced zuò, it refers to oak trees, especially the sawtooth oak, whose leaves were historically used to feed wild silkworms. Pronounced zhà, it is a classical term for clearing trees and brushwood to prepare land.
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