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The character for indica rice, traditionally written as "秈" with the semantic component "禾" denoting grain and the phonetic component "山" suggesting mountainous terrain, evolved to its simplified form "籼" where "禾" is replaced by "米" for a more direct reference to rice. Its etymology links the grain to varieties cultivated in upland areas, and over time its meaning narrowed from a general term for mountain rice to the specific classification of long-grain indica rice.