sword, potter's clay, to gather
戠 has no clear standalone meaning. The given glosses—sword, potter's clay, and to gather—do not share an obvious conceptual center. Treat its meaning as uncertain.
The exact historical development of 戠 is uncertain. It combines 音 (sound) and 戈 (halberd/weapon), but the original semantic and phonetic roles of these components are unclear.
The left side 音 (sound) and right side 戈 (halberd) suggest a weapon that makes noise, or clay being shaped while a sword is gathered—but the meaning is too uncertain for a reliable mnemonic.
For ショク, imagine a shock of sound (音) as a halberd (戈) strikes: shock -> ショク.
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