Definitions
old variant of 缸[gāng]
Etymology
About
The character 罁 is an alternative form of 缶, functioning as a phono-semantic compound for a large earthenware vessel or vat. It combines the semantic radical 缶, indicating a pottery container, with the phonetic component 岡, which supplies the pronunciation. While the more common 缸 uses 工 as its phonetic, 罁 instead uses the sound associated with "mountain ridge" (岡), illustrating how different phonetic elements could represent the same spoken word for a household item. Historically, this character referred to large storage crocks for water, grain, or wine, reflecting the compositional variability in characters for everyday utilitarian objects.