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Derived from traditional 硤, the character 硖 combines the semantic radical 石 ('stone') with the phonetic component 夹 (originally 夾), meaning 'squeezed or pressed from both sides'. This pairing evokes a narrow gorge, mountain pass, or rocky defile, a tight passage hemmed in by stone walls. The phonetic 夹 not only supplies the pronunciation but also reinforces the image of being wedged between rocks, and the character appears frequently in geographical names for such mountainous terrain.
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