虫

See also: 蟲

Translingual

Stroke order

Stroke order

Etymology

A poisonous snake, from which this character originated.

Pictogram (象形): a snake.

The character originally represented a type of poisonous snake, while the derivative 蟲 represented worms and insects (or insect-like things). 虫 eventually came to represent worms and insects as well, and the character 虺 was created to represent the original meaning.

Han character

虫 (radical 142 虫+0, 6 strokes, cangjie input 中一戈 (LMI), four-corner 5013₆, composition ⿱中⿰一丶)

1. KangXi radical 142

References

• KangXi: page 1076, character 19
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 32804
• Dae Jaweon: page 1545, character 7
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 4, page 2833, character 1
• Unihan data for U+866B

Descendants

強, 虹, 蚌, 蚯, 蛐, 蛻, 蜀, 蜂, 蜇, 蜥, 蝗, 蝠, 蝴, 蟄, 蟬, 蟲, 蟹, 蠍, 蠟, 蠣, 蠶

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Chinese

For pronunciation and definitions of 虫 – see 蟲. (This term, 虫, is the simplified form of 蟲.)

Notes: Simplified Chinese is mainly used in Mainland China and Singapore. Traditional Chinese is mainly used in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.

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Japanese

Kanji

虫

(grade 1 “Kyōiku” kanji, shinjitai kanji, kyūjitai form 蟲)

1. insect, bug

Readings

• Goon: じゅう (jū) (non-Jōyō reading)
• Kan’on: ちゅう (chū)
• Kun: むし (mushi)
• Nanori: む (mu)

Compounds

Derived terms

害虫 (gaichū) 甲虫 (kōchū, kabutomushi) 昆虫 (konchū) 幼虫 (yōchū) 寄生虫 (kiseichū) 爬虫類 (hachūrui) 毛虫 (kemushi) 虫歯 (mushiba) 虫眼鏡 (mushimegane) 虫酸 (mushizu) 虫食い (mushikui) 泣き虫 (nakimushi) 弱虫 (yowamushi)

虫

(uncommon “Hyōgai” kanji)

Readings

• Goon: け (ke)
• Kan’on: き (ki)

Noun

虫 (shinjitai kanji, kyūjitai kanji 蟲, hiragana むし, romaji mushi)

1. an insect; a bug; a worm
2. a person living for only one thing
3. a thought which is in the deep in mind