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The character 缙, with its traditional form 縉, is structured from the silk radical 糸 combined with the phonetic component 晉, initially denoting a reddish silk fabric used in ancient times. This meaning gradually extended through metonymy to refer to the scholar-official class, as exemplified in the compound 缙绅, due to the conventional use of such fabric in formal attire. The simplified form 缙 retains the same structural relationship, substituting the silk radical with 纟 and the phonetic with 晋, while the semantic shift from a textile to a social designation remains evident in historical texts.
Etymology Hide
