About
The character 鬃 combines the hair radical 髟 at the top with the component 宗 below. 髟 establishes the semantic category of hair or fur, while 宗 provides the phonetic basis for pronunciation. The character specifically refers to the stiff, long hair on the neck and back of mammals like horses and pigs, meaning "mane" or "thick bristles". It serves as a precise anatomical term for animal hair in agricultural and zoological contexts, without abstract or metaphorical extension.