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The character 汜 (sì) has a precise meaning: it denotes a minor stream or channel that branches away from a main river and then curves back to rejoin it further downstream. Structurally, it is a phono-semantic compound, with the three-dot water radical 氵 (shuǐ) on the left signaling its connection to water and rivers. The right side is the phonetic component 己 (jǐ), which provides the pronunciation sì. As an independent character, 己 means 'self,' but here it has no semantic function. Because the term addresses such a specific hydrological feature, it rarely appears in modern everyday language. Instead, it survives in classical geographical texts, historical river management records, and certain ancient place names.
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