螳螂捕蝉
táng​láng​bǔ​chán

shortsighted pursuit

螳 táng mantis

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

Components

虫
虫 Meaning component
chóng bug, insect
堂
堂 Sound component
táng, tang hall

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangdaːŋ

說文解字

螳蜋也。从虫堂聲。

Sources

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

螂 láng mantis

Phonosemantic compound. 虫 represents the meaning and 郎 represents the sound. Simplified form of 蜋.

Components

虫
虫 Meaning component
chóng bug, insect
郎
郎 Sound component
láng gentleman

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangraːŋ

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang

捕 bǔ catch, seize

Phonosemantic compound. 扌 represents the meaning and 甫 represents the sound.

Components

扌
扌 Meaning component
shou, shǒu hand

扌 is a component form of 手.

甫
甫 Sound component
fu begin

Character Evolution

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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangbaːs
Unicodebhò

說文解字

《說文》：“捕，取也。从手，甫聲。”

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)

蝉 chán cicada Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 虫 represents the meaning and 单 represents the sound. Simplified form of 蟬.

Components

虫
虫 Meaning component
chóng bug, insect
单
单 Sound component
dān single

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

蟬 chán cicada Traditional

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

Components

虫
虫 Meaning component
chóng bug, insect
單
單 Sound component
dān single

Character Evolution

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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdzyen[d]a[r]cicada
Zhengzhangdjan
Unicodezhiɛn

說文解字

以㫄鳴者。从虫單聲。

Sources

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