蜈蚣 (wú gōng) — centipede | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

centipede

Measure word · 条

蜈蚣。
Wǒ zài huā yuán lǐ kàn dào yì tiáo wú gōng.
I saw a centipede in the garden.
蜈蚣，。
wú gōng Yǒu hěn duō tiáo tuǐ, kàn qǐ lái yǒu diǎn xià rén.
Centipedes have many legs and look a bit scary.
蜈蚣，。
Zhè zhǒng wú gōng de dú xìng hěn qiáng, yào xiǎo xīn.
This kind of centipede is highly venomous; be careful.

Single-morpheme word

构词法gòucífǎ

联绵liánmiánBound pair

Two characters that only ever appear together, spelling one ancient two-syllable word.

蜈wú

蚣gōng

蜈 and 蚣 carry no meaning by themselves here; together they name a centipede.

Sound-only characters

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

吳

吳wú蜈

Same sound today

蜈 uses 虫 to indicate an insect and 吳 to give the sound.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

虫公蚣

Meaning part形符xíngfú

虫虫chónginsect; creature

Sound part声符shēngfú

公

Same sound today

The left part 虫 means insect or creature, and the right part 公 provides the sound.

Appears in