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謇 is a phono-semantic compound: the speech radical 言 (yán) sits at the bottom, while the top resembles the upper part of 寒 (hán, "cold") and gives a phonetic cue. It carries two seemingly contradictory meanings related to speaking, bold, honest speech on the one hand, and stuttering or halting speech on the other. In classical texts, this tension is often resolved in the figure of a loyal minister who offers blunt, unpalatable advice to a ruler, embodying both the struggle of difficult utterance and the courage of righteous candor.
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