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The character 鳑, in its traditional form 鰟, is a phono-semantic compound. Its semantic radical 鱼 (魚 in traditional script) places it in the domain of fish. The right-side component 旁 provides the pronunciation. Lexically, it identifies the bitterling, a specific small freshwater fish. This structure exemplifies how the general classifier for fish is paired with a phonetic element to create precise terminology for distinct species.
Etymology Hide