Definitions
rancid
Etymology
About
The character 饐 is a phono-semantic compound, with the semantic food radical 食 on the left indicating its category and the phonetic component 壹 on the right. It originally described the specific condition of food that has soured, turned rancid, or spoiled due to age or poor storage, relating directly to the degradation of items under the food radical. Historically, its definition has remained closely tied to this concept of spoilage, with little metaphorical extension. The character appears almost exclusively in classical texts on agriculture, household management, or medicine where spoiled food is discussed.
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