About
殒, aligned with the traditional form 殞, is a phono-semantic compound. Its left component, the death radical 歹, relates to mortality or decay. The right component 员 serves as the phonetic element. The primary meaning is to perish or lose one's life, often implying a premature or unnatural end. It also extends metaphorically to describe things falling from a height, such as meteors or shedding petals, linking physical descent with cessation.