Definitions
(of woman's hair) beautiful; flower garland worn as an ornament
Etymology
About
The character 鬘 is a phono-semantic compound composed of the semantic radical 髟, meaning long hair or hair accessories, and the phonetic component 曼. It originally referred to beautiful thick hair or specific women's hairstyles in ancient times. Its meaning later expanded through Chinese Buddhist translations, where it was adopted to transcribe the Sanskrit word mālā, a decorative garland or flower wreath, often an ornamental headpiece used in religious offerings. Thus, it now describes both hair and a Buddhist ritual ornament.
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