蜈 (wú): (in 蜈蚣) centipede

Meanings

一条蜈蚣从石头下面爬了出来。

Yì tiáo wúgōng cóng shítou xiàmiàn pá le chūlái.

A centipede crawled out from under the rock.

蜈蚣的脚很多，所以也叫百足。

Wúgōng de jiǎo hěn duō, suǒyǐ yě jiào bǎizú.

A centipede has many legs, so people also call it a hundred-foot.

usage

蜈 is a bound character: it never stands alone and appears only in 蜈蚣 ('centipede'). Learn the two-character word as a unit.

radical

虫 chóng

insect; worm; bug

The insect radical 虫 on the left places 蜈 among creeping-creature words — appropriate for a many-legged centipede.

phonetic

吴 wú

Wu (a surname; ancient state)

吴 gives the sound wú directly, with no tone change. It contributes nothing to the meaning here.

蜈 wú