脷

脷 (Kangxi radical 130, 肉+7, 11 strokes, cangjie input 月竹木弓 (BHDN), composition ⿰⺼利)

• Kangxi Dictionary: not present, would follow page 985, character 11
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 3, page 2078, character 10
• Unihan data for U+8137

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声) : semantic ⺼ (“meat”) + phonetic 利. Specialization of 利 (“benefit; profit”).

From 利 (“benefit; profit”), used as a euphemism for 舌 (“tongue”), which is homophonous to 折, 蝕／蚀 (“to be at a loss”).

Alternatively, it may be from 舐 (OC *ɦljeʔ, “to lick”), preserving the Old Chinese initial *l- (Schuessler, 2007).

脷

1. (Cantonese, dialectal Hakka) tongue (human or animal) (Classifier: 條／条 c)
2. (Hakka, Sichuanese) tongue of an animal

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