The aristocrats all bowed their heads in submission.
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Archaic — modern Chinese uses 底 for the 'foundation / bottom' sense, and 低 for 'low / lower'. Both later characters were added precisely to specialize this single ancient root. You see 氐 (third tone) only in classical texts like 《诗经》 and 《说文》.
Bottom horizontal — an indicator stroke marking the 'base / bottom' of 氏. This original 'base' sense is what survives in the homograph dǐ ('foundation').
