蚕蚁
cán​yǐ

newly hatched silkworm

蚕 cán silkworms Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 虫 represents the meaning and 天 represents the sound. Simplified form of 蠶.

Components

虫
虫 Meaning component
chóng bug, insect
天
天 Sound component
tiān, tian sky

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangzluːm
hl'iːnʔ

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

蚁 yǐ ants Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 虫 represents the meaning and 义 represents the sound. Simplified form of 蟻.

Components

虫
虫 Meaning component
chóng bug, insect
义
义 Sound component
yì justice

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

蠶 cán silkworms Traditional

Components

朁
朁 Sound component
cǎn, qián, jiàn if
䖵
䖵 Meaning component
kūn insects

insect

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdzomC.[dz]ˤ[ə]m silkworm

說文解字

《說文》：“蠶，任絲也。从，朁聲。”

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

蟻 yǐ ants Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 虫 represents the meaning and 義 represents the sound.

Components

虫
虫 Meaning component
chóng bug, insect
義
義 Sound component
yì right conduct

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartngjeXm-qʰ(r)ajʔant
Zhengzhangŋralʔ
Unicodengyɛ̌

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica