Archaic Chinese character for scattering

𫂿 is an old Chinese character meaning “scatter” or “disperse.” The Chinese dictionary Shuowen Jiezi, compiled in the Han dynasty, links 米 (“rice”) to its meaning and treats 殺 as the sound. A commentary compiled in the Tang dynasty on the classical chronicle Zuo Zhuan reads it as “banish” in the story of Cai Shu. In later textual copying, the verb became 蔡, obscuring the older graph.