螺 (luó): spiral shell; snail; conch

Measure Word

一只螺 zhī

Meanings

1 spiral shell; snail; conch
2 snail or shellfish with a spiral shell

Characters

螺

luó

spiral shell; snail; conch

Examples

HSK 7-9

海滩上有很多形状各异的螺。

Hǎitān shàng yǒu hěnduō xíngzhuàng gèyì de luó.

On the beach there are many differently shaped shells.

HSK 7-9

螺蛳粉是广西的著名小吃，以螺为主料。

Luósīfěn shì Guǎngxī de zhùmíng xiǎochī, yǐ luó wéi zhǔliào.

River snail noodles are a famous snack from Guangxi, made primarily with river snails.

Tips

culture

螺蛳粉, the pungent river snail noodle soup from Guilin/Liuzhou, became a viral internet sensation during COVID-19 lockdowns as demand for the packaged version skyrocketed.

Components

radical

虫 chóng

bug; small creature

Left bug radical 虫 - pictograph of a curled-up snake originally, generalised in classical Chinese to cover all small crawling creatures including molluscs and shellfish. In 螺 it marks the spiral-shelled animal as a tiny creature of the soft-bodied family. Same indexing radical: 蛇 snake, 蜘 spider, 蚊 mosquito.

phonetic

累 lěi

to pile up; rope

Right 累 supplies the sound - lěi drifting to luó with a slight vowel shift. 累 originally pictured silk threads coiling and tangling, which fits the spiral shell beautifully: a snail is a creature wound up like rope. The piled-up imagery quietly reinforces the spiraling geometry.