蛤蚌
gé​bàng

clam

蛤 há clam

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

Components

虫
虫 Meaning component
chóng bug, insect
合
合 Sound component
hé to join

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangkuːb

Sources

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

蚌 bàng, bèng, pí oysters

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

Components

虫
虫 Meaning component
chóng bug, insect
丰
丰 Sound component
fēng luxuriant

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartbæwngX[b]ˤroŋʔoyster, mussel
Zhengzhangbroːŋʔ
breːŋʔ

說文解字

蜃屬。从虫𡴀聲。

Sources

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