螽 (zhōng): katydid; a kind of grasshopper

Meanings

1 katydid; a kind of grasshopper

Characters

螽

zhōng

katydid; grasshopper

Examples

田边草丛里，一只螽斯在鸣叫。

Tián biān cǎo cóng lǐ, yì zhī zhōng sī zài míngjiào.

Among the grasses by the field, a katydid was chirping.

古书里，螽是蝗虫类的总称。

Gǔshū lǐ, zhōng shì huángchóng lèi de zǒngchēng.

In ancient texts, the katydid was a general name for the grasshopper family.

Tips

culture

Best known from 螽斯 ('katydid'), the title of a poem in the Classic of Poetry. Because katydids reproduce in great numbers, the word became a classical blessing for having many descendants.

Components

radical

虫 chóng

insect; bug

The left insect radical at the bottom. Doubled with its twin, it places 螽 firmly in the insect family, marking it as a kind of grasshopper.

phonetic

冬 dōng

winter

Sits on top and supplies the sound: standalone 冬 is dōng, close to the character's reading zhōng. It carries no insect meaning here, only the pronunciation.

semantic

虫 chóng

insect; bug

The right insect at the bottom, paired with the one to its left. The doubled 虫 reinforces that this names a small crawling, hopping creature.