Zi talk:洒

The relation between 洒 and 灑 is treated in the zidian as 洒 = jianti, 灑 = fanti. As of this writing, the zidian entry starts with "洒(F灑) [sǎ] ...", which conventionally means that whenever a jianti text is converted into a fanti text, 洒 is converted into 灑. If "(F灑)" were moved to a position later in the line, that would indicate a more conditional mapping. (Compare how 发 maps to either 發 or 髮, and how that is indicated in its zidian top line.)

Since both characters are ancient, there is some tension between two possible notations for words containing 洒 or 灑, such as "xiǎnrú 洒如[灑-]" versus "xiǎnrú 洒如[-/灑-]". The latter would suggest that even in fanti texts maybe 洒如 would occur as often as 灑如. However, it would be tedious to use notation like "xiǎnrú 洒如[-/灑-]" in all such entries. Also, we have code that automatically checks the consistency between the zidian and cidian for this kind of thing. If the zidian has "洒(F灑) [sǎ] ..." then a cidian entry like "xiǎnrú 洒如[-/灑-]" triggers an error. If the zidian had "洒 [sǎ] ...(F灑)..." then the cidian could have "xiǎnrú 洒如[-/灑-]".

Further study may or may not lead to changing the notations related to 洒 and 灑, but it's important to maintain consistency for ALL the relevant zidian and cidian entries. Otherwise, we get errors that interfere with syncing the entries between the wiki and desktop Wenlin app. (Currently the desktop Wenlin has stricter requirements than the wiki.)

It should be kept in mind that many simple form characters like 洒 have been in use for centuries and may still occur in modern fanti texts, in free variation with more complex forms like 灑. Treating 洒 as jianti and 灑 as fanti should not be misunderstood as implying that 洒 cannot occur in fanti text.