蠆

See also: 躉, and 虿

蠆 U+8806, 蠆 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-8806 ← 蠅 [U+8805] CJK Unified Ideographs 蠇 → [U+8807]

Translingual

Han character

蠆 (Kangxi radical 142, 虫+13, 19 strokes, cangjie input 廿田月戈 (TWBI), four-corner 4413₆, composition ⿱萬虫)

1. a kind of scorpion
2. a sting in the tail

Derived characters

• 囆, 𡿋, 𢺉, 𨙚, 爡, 𤜒, 𧮚, 𧓽, 𤼚

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1099, character 24
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 33694
• Dae Jaweon: page 1563, character 25
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 4, page 2889, character 20
• Unihan data for U+8806

Chinese

trad.		蠆
simp.		虿
alternative forms		䘍 𧍣 𧓵

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 蠆
Western Zhou	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Bronze inscriptions	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Characters in the same phonetic series (萬) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 

	Old Chinese
糲	*m·raːds, *m·rads, *m·raːd
犡	*m·raːds, *m·rads
噧	*hmreːds, *r̥ʰaːd
邁	*mraːds
勱	*mraːds
蠆	*m̥ʰraːds
厲	*m·rads
勵	*m·rads
礪	*m·rads
蠣	*m·rads
蠇	*m·rads
癘	*m·rads
濿	*m·rads
櫔	*m·rads
巁	*m·rads
贎	*m·rads, *mlans
萬	*mlans

Originally written as 萬. 虫 (“creature”) was added to disambiguate it from 萬 (“myriad, ten thousand”).

Etymology

From 厲 (OC *m·rads, “sharp”) with a nominalizing devoicing, a realization of a Sino-Tibetan prefix *s-, probably the one used in words for animals (Schuessler, 2007). Baxter and Sagart (2014) reconstruct it with an additional animal prefix *m-. It may also be connected to 蜇 (OC *ʔl'ed, “to sting”) (Schuessler, 2007).

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): chài (chai⁴)

  (Zhuyin): ㄔㄞˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): caai³

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: chài
    • Zhuyin: ㄔㄞˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: chài
    • Wade–Giles: chʻai⁴
    • Yale: chài
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: chay
    • Palladius: чай (čaj)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ʈ͡ʂʰaɪ̯⁵¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: caai³
    • Yale: chaai
    • Cantonese Pinyin: tsaai³
    • Guangdong Romanization: cai³
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡sʰaːi̯³³/

---

• Middle Chinese: trhaejH

Rime
Character	蠆
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	徹 (10)
Final (韻)	夬 (29)
Tone (調)	Departing (H)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	II
Fanqie	丑犗切
Baxter	trhaejH
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/ʈʰˠaiH/
Pan Wuyun	/ʈʰᵚaiH/
Shao Rongfen	/ȶʰaiH/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/ʈʰaɨjsH/
Li Rong	/ȶʰaiH/
Wang Li	/ȶʰæiH/
Bernard Karlgren	/ȶʰaiH/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	chài
Expected Cantonese Reflex	caai3

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*mə-r̥ˤa[t]-s/

  (Zhengzhang): /*m̥ʰraːds/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	蠆
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	chài
Middle Chinese	‹ trhæjH ›
Old Chinese	/*mə-r̥ˁa[t]-s/
English	scorpion
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system: * Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; * Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p; * Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; * Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; * Period "." indicates syllable boundary.

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	蠆
Reading #	1/1
No.	12620
Phonetic component	萬
Rime group	祭
Rime subdivision	1
Corresponding MC rime	蠆
Old Chinese	/*m̥ʰraːds/

Definitions

蠆

1. (obsolete) venomous creature; scorpion

   • 蜂蠆虺蛇不螫，猛獸不據，攫鳥不搏。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     蜂虿虺蛇不螫，猛兽不据，攫鸟不搏。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Tao Te Ching, 4^th century BCE

     Fēngchài huǐshé bù shì, měngshòu bù jù, jué niǎo bù bó. [Pinyin]

     Bees and scorpions and asps and adders will not sting him; fierce beasts will not seize him; predatory birds will not strike him.

   • 下堂兮見蠆，出門兮觸螽，
     巷有兮蚰蜓，邑多兮螳螂。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     下堂兮见虿，出门兮触螽，
     巷有兮蚰蜓，邑多兮螳螂。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Verses of Chu, 4^th century BCE – 2^nd century CE, translated based on David Hawkes' version

     Xiàtáng xī jiàn chài, chūmén xī chù zhōng,
     Xiàng yǒu xī yóutíng, yì duō xī tángláng. [Pinyin]

     Going down from the hall I see scorpions; going out of the gate I run into locusts;
     In the alleyways there are centipedes; in the town there are many mantises.

2. Used in 蠆芥／虿芥.

Compounds

• 水蠆／水虿 (shuǐchài)
• 蜂蠆有毒／蜂虿有毒
• 蠆介／虿介
• 蠆尾／虿尾
• 蠆芥／虿芥
• 銀鉤蠆尾／银钩虿尾

 

Japanese

Kanji

蠆

(Hyōgai kanji)

1. scorpion

Readings

• On (unclassified): たい (tai)、たつ (tatsu)、たち (tachi)

Vietnamese

Han character

蠆: Hán Nôm readings: sái, mại

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

References

• Nom Foundation