About
栲 is a phono-semantic compound, with the semantic radical 木 (wood/tree) on the left indicating its botanical category, and the phonetic component 考 on the right providing its pronunciation. It specifically denotes trees of the Castanopsis genus, commonly called chinquapins. Historically, the wood was used for furniture and to extract tannins for dyes. In modern contexts, the character serves primarily as a taxonomic identifier in botany and agriculture. It has no traditional or simplified variants, relying on the direct combination of a semantic classifier and a phonetic marker to specify this type of timber-producing tree.