肱

The forearm (the area between the elbow and the wrist). In political or administrative contexts, it appears in the compound 肱股 ("forearm and thigh"), a trope for indispensable assistants, trusted aides, or "pillars of state."

Functions as a noun; does not carry verbal weight.

Contrast with 臂 (//bì//). While //bì// is the general term for "arm," //gōng// is anatomically specific. A shift from //bì// to //gōng// often signals either anatomical precision or an intentional invocation of the "support/aide" metaphor.

Semantic variant U+53B7.