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莴 (wō), the simplified form of 萵, is a top-bottom phono-semantic compound: the radical 艹 (cǎo), meaning grass or vegetation, marks it as a plant, while the lower component 呙 (guō), simplified from 咼, serves purely as the phonetic indicator. It denotes lettuce, appearing primarily in the compounds 莴笋 (wōsǔn), celtuce or stem lettuce prized for its thick edible stem, and 莴苣 (wōjù), the general botanical term encompassing leafy lettuce varieties.
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