蚯

qiū

noun

Meanings

HSK 7-9

蚯蚓能松土，对花园有好处。

Qiūyǐn néng sōng tǔ, duì huāyuán yǒu hǎochù.

Earthworms loosen the soil and are good for the garden.

HSK 7-9

雨后，许多蚯蚓爬到了地面上。

Yǔ hòu, xǔduō qiūyǐn pá dào le dìmiàn shàng.

After the rain, many earthworms crawled onto the ground.

usage

蚯 has no independent meaning. It only ever appears in 蚯蚓 (earthworm); you will never see it standing alone.

radical

虫 chóng

insect; worm; bug

The bug-and-worm radical, marking 蚯 as a small crawling creature. It is what ties this character to 蚯蚓, the earthworm.

phonetic

丘 qiū

mound; hillock

Gives the sound: 丘 qiū lends 蚯 its exact reading qiū. The 'mound' meaning does not carry over; it is purely the phonetic part.

蚯 qiū