Mǎ jiáozi shàng de biāo kòngzhì zhe mǎ de fāngxiàng.
The bit on the horse's bridle controls the horse's direction.
Tips
usage
镳 appears most commonly in the idiom 分道扬镳, meaning to part ways - literally, to go separate roads and wave one's bridle bits apart. The standalone word is rarely used outside of this phrase.
Left metal radical, side-form of 金. The indexing element. Marks 镳 as a metal piece: the iron bit fitted across a horse's mouth to control its head - the central element of any bridle. Family: 镫 stirrup, 缰 reins (the silk half of the bridle).
Right 麃 supplies the sound, drifting páo to biāo through labial alternation. 麃 itself is an obscure name for a kind of deer and rarely appears outside this compound. Almost always seen in 分道扬镳 'each goes his own way' - to part the road and ride off with separate bits.
