semantic

adj

1. (not-comparable)Of or relating to semantics or the meanings of words.
2. (not-comparable)Reflecting intended structure and meaning.
3. (not-comparable, slang)Petty or trivial; (of a person or statement) quibbling, niggling.

noun

1. In such writing systems as the Chinese writing system, the portion of a phono-semantic character that provides an indication of its meaning; contrasted with phonetic.

   “Its semantic is polysyllabic, viz. it uses the word formations of spoken Chinese.”

   “In this particular case, the semantic is on the left of its host sinogram.”

   “The 亻(人) ren2 'person' semantic has been replaced by 氵(水) shui3 'water' semantic in浸, but帚 zhou3 'broom' has phonetically or semantically nothing to do with 浸 and is just a residue of 侵 after亻(人) ren2 'person' has been removed.”