About
The character 莶 is a phono-semantic compound with the radical 艹 (grass) indicating its botanical nature, and the component 佥 providing the pronunciation "xiān". In its traditional form 薟, the phonetic component is written as 僉. 莶 appears almost exclusively in the binomial term "豨莶" (xīxiān), which denotes the herbaceous genus Siegesbeckia used in traditional Chinese medicine for treating inflammation. As its meaning is tied to this specific botanical and pharmacological context, it functions as specialized technical vocabulary.
Etymology Hide
