蜈蚣
wú​gōng

centipede

蜈 wú centipede

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

Components

虫
虫 Meaning component
chóng bug, insect
吴
吴 Sound component
wú, yú, tūn one of warring states

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangŋʷaː

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

蚣 gong centipede

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

Components

虫
虫 Meaning component
chóng bug, insect
公
公 Sound component
gōng public

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangkloːŋ
kljoŋ

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica