解豸

Chinese

to loosen; to untie; to explain
to loosen; to untie; to explain; to remove; to divide; to dissolve; to solve; solution; send under escort
 
 beast with long backbone; legless insect
trad. (解豸) 解 豸
simp. #(解豸) 解 豸

Etymology

In Zuo zhuan's chapter Xuan 17, 豸 (OC *dreʔ) was supposedly a graphical loan for 解 (OC *grêʔ) > xiè "to understand". This raises the suspicion that 解 became a pre-syllable in the animal's name due to a misunderstood gloss; 解 "to understand, to distinguish" might also be responsible for the belief that the animal could tell straight from crooked, right from wrong (Schuessler, 2007).

Pronunciation

Noun

解豸

  1. alternative form of 獬豸 (xièzhì, “xiezhi”)
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