螫 (zhē): (of bees, scorpions, jellyfish…

Meanings

1 (of bees, scorpions, jellyfish etc.) to sting
2 (of irritants) to make the eyes or skin sting

Characters

螫

zhē

to sting (of insects)

Examples

HSK 7-9

他被蜜蜂螫了一下。

Tā bèi mìfēng zhē le yíxià.

He got stung by a bee.

HSK 7-9

辣椒水螫得我眼睛疼。

Làjiāo shuǐ zhē de wǒ yǎnjing téng.

The chili water made my eyes sting.

Tips

usage

Two readings: colloquial zhē 'to sting' (bee, jellyfish, also stinging sensation from chili/onion) is by far the more common; literary shì has the same sense. In everyday speech most people just say 蜇 - 螫 looks bookish on the page.

Components

radical

虫 chóng

insect; worm

Bottom insect radical - pictograph of a coiled snake, generalized to all invertebrates. The indexing radical, anchoring 螫 in the bug family. Same radical groups it with 蜇 (sting), 蜂 (bee), 蝎 (scorpion), 蚊 (mosquito). Anything that bites or stings carries this radical.

phonetic

赦 shè

to pardon; remit

Top 赦 supplies the sound - shè shifting to zhē/shì through historical drift. 赦 itself shows 赤 (red) plus 攵 (strike), originally 'to release after punishment'. Purely sound-bearing; the bite/sting meaning lives entirely in 虫 below.