About
The character 絜 is built on the semantic radical 糸 ("silk") at the bottom, with an upper part made of 丰 and 刀 that lends phonetic and structural elements. Originally, it meant to measure girth or circumference with a string, drawing directly on the use of silk threads for such tasks. An alternative pronunciation gives it the sense of clean, pure, or exact, functioning like 洁 in classical texts, yet still connected to the precise handling and measuring of textiles.
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