虾蛄
xiā​gū

mantis shrimp

虾 xiā shrimp Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 虫 represents the meaning and 下 represents the sound. Simplified form of 蝦.

Components

虫
虫 Meaning component
chóng bug, insect
下
下 Sound component
xià, xia under

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

蛄 gū, gǔ mole cricket

Components

虫
虫 Meaning component
chóng bug, insect

insect

古
古 Sound component
gǔ old

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangkaː
Unicodego

說文解字

螻蛄也。从虫古聲。

Sources

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

蝦 xiā shrimp Traditional

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

Components

虫
虫 Meaning component
chóng bug, insect
叚
叚 Sound component
jiǎ, xiá false

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarthæ[ɡ]ˤrahae-mae frog; shrimp
Zhengzhangqʰraː
ɡraː
Unicodeha

說文解字

蝦蟆也。从虫叚聲。

Sources

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