蜈蚣 (wú gōng) — centipede

Definition

noun
centipede
Measure word · 条

Examples

  • 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.

Origin

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
虫虫chónginsect
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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
虫虫chónginsect; creature
Sound part声符shēngfú
公
公gōng蚣
Same sound today

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

Appears in
Insects

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