蜷

quán
verb #24,011

Meanings

  1. 1 to curl up
  2. 2 to huddle
  3. 3 to coil

Examples

HSK 3
Māo quán zài shāfā shàng shuìjiào.
The cat is curled up on the sofa sleeping.
HSK 7-9
Tā lěng de bǎ shēnzi quán chéng yī tuán.
She was so cold that she curled herself into a ball.

Tips

memory
蜷 has the insect radical 虫 on the left, evoking how insects or worms curl up. The right side 卷 (to roll) also hints at the meaning.

Components

radical
虫 chóng
insect; bug
Left insect radical - pictograph of a coiled worm or snake. The indexing radical for 蜷. The semantic logic is direct: a curled-up insect is the prototype image of 'to coil, curl up,' which later extended to people huddling in fetal position.
phonetic
卷 juǎn
roll up; scroll
Right 卷 supplies the sound juǎn to quán with a regular shift. It also doubles as semantic: 卷 means 'to roll up,' the precise motion a coiling creature performs. So both sides point at the same image.

Stroke Order

蜷 quán