About
The character 鼯 is a phonetic-semantic compound formed from the semantic component 鼠, meaning "rodent", and the phonetic component 吾, which indicates its pronunciation as wú. It was created to specifically denote the flying squirrel, known as 鼯鼠, and its meaning has remained exclusively associated with this animal since its adoption into the lexicon. The character's structure, combining these two elements, has remained consistent without alteration.