About
The character 舐 is a phono-semantic compound in which the radical 舌 'tongue' supplies the meaning and the component 氏, which typically means 'clan' or 'lineage', supplies the sound. It directly denotes the act of licking. This image frequently appears in classical idioms and literary descriptions of animals nurturing their young, most memorably a cow licking her calf. The idiom 舐犊情深 (shìdú qíngshēn) immortalizes this scene, and by extension, the character can metaphorically convey parental love or meticulous care.
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