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The character 齑 (traditional 齏) is a phono-semantic compound that pairs the semantic element 韭, signifying leeks or vegetables, with the phonetic 齐 (simplified) or 齊 (traditional) placed on top. Originally, it referred to finely chopped or pickled vegetables, a meaning tied to its vegetable radical, then broadened to finely minced meat and any substance reduced to fine fragments or powder. Today, it appears chiefly in set phrases for things shattered to pieces, having shifted from a culinary term to a general image of destruction.
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