蜥 (xī): lizard (bound form, used in com…

Meanings

1 lizard (bound form, used in compounds)

Characters

蜥

xī

lizard (bound morpheme, used in 蜥蜴)

Examples

蜥蜴是一种常见的爬行动物。

Xīyì shì yī zhǒng chángjiàn de páxíng dòngwù.

Lizards are a common type of reptile.

这只蜥蜴在石头上晒太阳。

Zhè zhī xīyì zài shítou shàng shàitàiyáng.

This lizard is basking on a rock.

科莫多龙是世界上最大的蜥蜴。

Kēmò duō lóng shì shìjiè shàng zuì dà de xīyì.

The Komodo dragon is the largest lizard in the world.

Tips

usage

蜥 is a bound morpheme — it is almost never used alone. Its primary use is in 蜥蜴 (xīyì), the common word for lizard. The character contains 虫 (insect/creature radical), indicating it belongs to the category of crawling creatures.

Components

radical

虫 chóng

insect; small creature

Left 虫 is the insect / small-creature radical, originally a drawing of a coiled snake. In classical Chinese 虫 covered insects, reptiles, and small cold-blooded animals — exactly the bracket lizards fall into. Anchors 蜥 in the bug-and-reptile family alongside 蛇 snake, 蛙 frog, 蜘 spider, 蟹 crab.

phonetic

析 xī

to split; analyze

Right 析 supplies the sound — xī straight through, no drift. The 'split apart' meaning of 析 (木 wood + 斤 axe) doesn't contribute semantically; it is a pure sound-tag pinning down the lizard reading. Always appears in the disyllable 蜥蜴 'lizard,' borrowed from an old animal name preserved as a compound.