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The character 猃 (xiǎn) denotes a long-snouted dog and was historically used in the names of northern nomadic tribes. It is a phono-semantic compound: the left semantic radical 犭 (quǎn, "dog") places it within the animal category, while the right component 佥 (qiān) supplies the pronunciation. In its traditional forms, 獫 or 玁, the phonetic element 僉 is more complex. The canine radical literally refers to ancient hunting dogs, but its usage extended metaphorically and ethnographically when applied to tribal groups. The simplified structure retains the canine radical with an updated phonetic element for efficiency.
Etymology Hide
