蜉 (fú): (in 蜉蝣) mayfly

Meanings

1 (in 蜉蝣) mayfly

Characters

蜉

fú

mayfly (bound)

Examples

寄蜉蝣于天地，人生短暂。

Jì fúyóu yú tiāndì, rénshēng duǎnzàn.

A mayfly between heaven and earth — life is fleeting.

蜉蝣只能活一天。

Fúyóu zhǐ néng huó yì tiān.

A mayfly lives only a single day.

Tips

culture

蜉 is bound, appearing in 蜉蝣 (mayfly) and 蚍蜉 (a large ant). Because a mayfly lives barely a day, 蜉蝣 became a classic image for how brief human life is.

Components

radical

虫 chóng

insect

The insect radical on the left. It marks the character as the name of a small bug — the mayfly. It groups 蜉 with 蝣, 蚊, and 蝶 in the family of insect names.

phonetic

孚 fú

phonetic component

Supplies the sound, read identically as fú. It serves only as a pronunciation marker; the same element gives 浮 and 俘 their reading.