甲壳虫
jiǎ​qiào​chóngJiǎ​qiào​chóng

beetle

甲 jiǎ, jia 1st heavenly stem, fingernail

Origin unclear. Possibly depicts cracks on a shell or tree bark.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (3 of 14 verified)

押鸭匣闸奄钾呷岬胛狎柙鉀鴨閘

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

厣

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkaep[k]ˤr[a]p 1st heavenly stem; fingernail

說文解字

《說文》：“甲，東方之孟，陽气萌動。从木戴孚甲之象。一曰人頭宜為甲，甲象人頭。，古文甲，始於十，見於千，成於木之象。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.957-958李学勤《字源》p.1270-1271漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

壳 ké, qiào casing Simplified

Simplified form of 殼. Phonosemantic compound. 几 represents the meaning and 㱿 represents the sound.

Components

㱿
㱿 SoundRemnant component
què, hù, qiǎng to strike from above
几
几 Meaning component
jǐ, jī small table

A table is considered to be a hard object, much like a casing.

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

虫 chóng bug, insect Simplified

Original meaning: viper

Pictograph of a snake.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (10 of 196 verified)

虽蛋蛇蜂蜜蛮虹蝶螺蚁蜡蚀蛛蝇蚕虾蚂蛙蚊蝴浊蜘蝉蟹蝗闽蝠蛾萤蛟蠕螂茧蜕蜒蜷蟒蜗螅蛤蟋蟀蝙蟆蜿蜈蝎蟾螃蚌蛹蛀虱蛔蚪蜻蚤蜓蚓蚣蝌蚯蛐蛰蠡蛆蛭螳蟑蟠蟮蜃蜥蛳蚱蚜蝮蛎蚩蛉虻蜴蠹蜚螨蜇蠼蜊蝈蚝蟪蚨蚴蛴蛞蛩蠖螫蛄虼蚧蠓螟蚋蟛蜍蜢蠊蛱螈蟊蛘螭蝼虺虿蛑蜮螯蚬蛏蠛蜣蜉蚶螬蝽雖蝣虮蚰螽蛲蚍蟥蝾蚵螓蝻螋蚺蝓蝰蜱蛸蝥蜾蜩蝦螵蠃蜞蝤螗蟬蝟蟭蟻蟓螞蠻蠔虰蛻蚖蜎蝕蟯蠣蛜蟜蠅蝸螢蠍蠟蟢螻螉蟈螾蟏蟄蛺蠨蟣蠑蠵蟟螮閩蟎螄蠮蛵繭

Iconic (4)

蜀蛊蟲䖵

Simplified (2)

独触

Sound (0 of 2 verified)

融烛

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhanghŋlulʔ

說文解字

《說文》：“虫，一名蝮，博三寸，首大如擘指。象其卧形。物之微細，或行，或毛，或蠃，或介，或鱗，以虫為象。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

殼 ké, qiào casing Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 几 represents the meaning and 㱿 represents the sound.

Components

几
几 Meaning component
jǐ, jī small table

A table is considered to be a hard object, much like a casing.

㱿
㱿 Sound component
què, hù, qiǎng to strike from above

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkhaewk[kʰ]ˤrok hollow shell, hollow

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart

蟲 insects Traditional

Triple of 虫.

Components

虫
虫 Iconic component
chóng bug, insect
虫
虫 Iconic component
chóng bug, insect
虫
虫 Iconic component
chóng bug, insect

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Regular Modern

Component uses

Iconic (1)

蠱

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdrjuwngC.lruŋ insect

說文解字

《說文》：“蟲，有足謂之蟲，無足謂之豸。从三虫。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)