About
槎 is a phono-semantic compound character: the wood radical 木 on the left identifies it as a wooden object, and the phonetic component 差 on the right gives the pronunciation "cha". Its most common historical meaning is a raft made of timber or bamboo for crossing water. In classical Chinese literature, it appears in mythological contexts, for instance, a flying raft navigating the Milky Way. The character also has a secondary verbal meaning, "to chop or cut wood obliquely".
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