蛐 (qū): cricket

Meanings

HSK 2

秋天的夜里，墙角下能听见蛐蛐叫。

Qiūtiān de yèli, qiángjiǎo xià néng tīngjiàn qū qu jiào.

On autumn nights you can hear crickets chirping under the wall.

history

蛐 is not used on its own. It appears only in the colloquial reduplication 蛐蛐 (cricket, a Beijing word) and in 蛐蟮 (earthworm).

radical

虫 chóng

insect; worm

The insect radical 虫 marks a small creeping creature, here a cricket or an earthworm.

phonetic

曲 qū

bent; crooked

曲 (bent, crooked) supplies the sound qū. It is the same 曲 seen in 歌曲 and 弯曲.

蛐 qū