About
茼 is a phono-semantic compound with the grass radical 艹 (cǎo) at the top indicating its plant category, and the lower component 同 (tóng) providing its pronunciation. It is used almost exclusively to refer to garland chrysanthemum, an edible plant, primarily in the compound word 茼蒿 (tónghāo). This character exemplifies how botanical terms were often formed by combining a general classifier with a phonetic element to specify particular species, and its meaning has remained firmly within culinary and agricultural contexts without developing metaphorical uses.