About
The character 龉 is a phono-semantic compound. Its semantic radical, 齿 (chǐ) meaning "teeth", indicates the character relates to dental anatomy. The right component, 吾 (wú), an ancient pronoun for "I" or "my", provides the phonetic element. The traditional form is 齬, using the full radical 齒. The original meaning describes teeth that are uneven or misaligned. This sense of physical mismatch evolved metaphorically into a meaning of disagreement or friction between people. This figurative sense appears almost exclusively in the compound word "龃龉" (jǔyǔ), which means discord or a failure to see eye to eye.
Etymology Hide
