蛤蛎
gé​lì

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

蛎 lì oyster Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 虫 represents the meaning and 厉 represents the sound. Simplified form of 蠣.

Components

虫
虫 Meaning component
chóng bug, insect
厉
厉 Sound component
lì whetstone

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

蠣 oyster Traditional

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

Components

虫
虫 Meaning component
chóng bug, insect
厲
厲 Sound component
lì whetstone

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartljejHmə-rat-sstinging insect
Zhengzhangm·rads

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang