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栉 (traditional: 櫛) is a phono-semantic compound that means "comb" (noun) or "to comb" (verb). The wood radical 木 indicates the material combs were commonly made from, while the phonetic 节 (simplified from 節) provides the pronunciation and originally referred to bamboo joints. Over time, the character's meaning extended to describe things closely packed or arranged in rows like comb teeth, as seen in the idiom 栉比 for tightly rowed buildings. The modern simplified form simply replaces 節 with 节, preserving the original structure and sound.
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