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An older form of the character shows that it was a combination of plants/grass (⺾), two fires (火), two hands, and smoke/heat rising. This was a depiction of hands throwing brushwood on a fire, and the original meaning of 蒸 was “brushwood.” However, it began to be used instead of a simpler Chinese-only character meaning “heat rising from a fire.” For some reason, it eventually came to be used particularly of “(rising) steam,” despite it not having any element connected with water.

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Motto.