About
芡 is a phono-semantic compound. Its top component, the semantic radical 艹, indicates it belongs to the plant category. The bottom component, 欠, provides its pronunciation. The character originally denoted the Gordon euryale, an aquatic plant whose starchy seeds were used in cooking and medicine. By extension, 芡 also came to mean the starch derived from these seeds, and is used in terms for thickening sauces or soups.
Etymology Hide
