虫 (chóng) · insect; worm; bug

Meanings

1 insect; worm; bug

Examples

HSK 3

她怕虫。

Tā pà chóng.

She's afraid of bugs.

HSK 4

这棵树上有很多虫子。

Zhè kē shù shàng yǒu hěnduō chóngzi.

There are many bugs on this tree.

Tips

memory

虫 is a radical in many insect/animal characters: 蚂 (ant), 蛇 (snake), 蝴 (butterfly).

usage

虫子 is the everyday word for bug/insect; 昆虫 is the more formal term for insect.

Components

pictograph

虫 chóng

insect; worm

Six-stroke 虫 is itself a Kangxi radical and not further decomposable. The oracle-bone graph depicts a coiled snake or crawling creature, with the head and curled body clearly visible. Originally 虫 covered all creeping things - snakes, worms, insects, lizards. As radical it anchors a huge family of crawling and buzzing creatures: 蛇 (snake), 蚊 (mosquito), 蜜 (honey/bee), 蝶 (butterfly).

Radical

Insect Kangxi #142

The insect radical. Originally a pictograph of a coiled snake (read huǐ), later generalized to all small crawling creatures. One of the most productive semantic radicals in the language, covering insects, reptiles, molluscs, parasites, and amphibians: 蛇, 蜘, 蛛, 蚊, 蛤, 蜗, 蝙, 蝠, 螃, 蟹.