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As a noun, 粕 refers to the dregs or residue left after pressing or extraction, particularly from brewing or oil production. It is a phono-semantic compound: the radical 米 (rice) on the left indicates its connection to grain processing, while 白 (white) on the right primarily provides the sound. The character appears most often in the compound 糟粕 (zāopò), which literally means wine dregs but is commonly used to denote anything worthless or discarded. Thus, 粕 embodies the concept of spent residue, the opposite of the valuable essence extracted from raw materials.
Etymology Hide
