142. The "Insect" Radical: 虫 - Joy o' Kanji

The English name of this radical is "insect," although "bug" works fine, too. Just as the Japanese read the autonomous kanji 虫 as むし, they call the radical ... LogIn Welcome! HOME JOINUS ESSAYS JOKIA ACCOUNT KAIMONO mycart(0) Share | RADICALNOTES 142.The"Insect"Radical:虫 Inlife,insectsarenotoriouslyhardtopindown,buzzingaroundtoandfroandcausinggreatdistresstohumans.It'snosurprisethatwesaythatsomeoneorsomething"bugs"us. Butthe"insect"kanjiisadifferentanimalaltogether.It'squitestraightforwardinnearlyeveryway.Forinstance,theshapeofthissix-strokeradicaldoesnotchangefromcharactertocharacter.Italwayslookslike虫.  ImageCredit:MariuszSzmerdt "Firefly"is蛍(ほたる)inJapanese. Namesofthe"Insect"Radical TheEnglishnameofthisradicalis"insect,"although"bug"worksfine,too.JustastheJapanesereadtheautonomouskanji虫asむし,theycalltheradicalむし.Whenit'sontheleft,むしへんisappropriate. DifferentiatingThisRadicalfromAnother It'spossibletospotourradicalinside風,butit'snotreallythere.Thatwholeshapeconstitutesradical182,the"wind"radical. ImageCredit:Origa "Ladybug"inJapaneseisテントウムシ.Onekanjirenderingis天道虫.Thefirsttwocharacterscombinetomean"sungod."Wikipediasaysthatthename 天道虫 comesfromtheideathatladybugsflytowardthesun.  JoyoKanjiwithBuggyMeanings InthefollowingJoyokanji, 虫istheon-dutyradical,whichisnosurprise,giventheirbuggymeanings: 虫(56:insect,bug) 蚊(1056:mosquito) 蛍(1200:firefly) 蜂(2109:bee; hornet; wasp) Intermsofetymology,虫staystruetoitsinsectmeaninginallthosecharacters,aswellasinthisone: 蚕(688:silkworm) Itmakessensetofindaninsectinthenextkanji,where虫istheon-dutyradicalaccordingto mostsources(butnotall): 蜜(2116:honey,nectar) Kanjigensaysthatthis 虫means"insect(specificallyabee)"andthattheremainderofthecharactermeans"toshutsomethingin."Athingbeesstore?That'shoneyinahoneycomb! PhotoCredit:KevinHamilton Ourradicalappearstwiceinarow!Wefindittwicein蜂蜜(はちみつ:honey),whichbreaksdownas bee+honey. As専門店(せんもんてん)means"specialtyshop,"thisisashopspecializinginhoney. TheOn-DutyRadicalas"Snake" It'smoresurprisingtofindtheon-duty 虫 inthekanjiforthiscreature: 蛇(1341:snake) The它in蛇startedoutasapictographofa“snakewithalargehead,”likelyacobra,saysHenshallinhisneweredition.Peoplethenborrowed它torepresentahomophonemeaning“others.”Todistinguishbetweenthetwowords,theancientChineseeventuallyadded虫 totheleft,producing蛇.Henshalldefines虫as"insect,worm,snake"inthiscontext. Theon-duty虫radicalmeans"snake"eveninthesekanji: 蛮(1722:barbarian) HenshallsaysthatanearlyformofthischaracterrepresentedacertainregioninsouthernChina.TheancientChineseadded虫tothemix,intendingforthisradicaltosymbolizeasnakeassociatedwiththatregion.Onlylaterdidthischaractercometomean"barbarity"or"barbarism." 虹(2090:rainbow) Kanjigen saysthe虫means“snake,"whereas工means“topenetrate,”alsocontributingsoundtothischaracter.Arainbowislikeahugesnakepenetratingthesky,saysKanjigen.Gee,Ialwaysthoughtrainbowswerelovelytobehold,nothorribleandreptilian! PhotoCredit:MariuszSzmerdt NeitheraSnakeNoranInsect Ifitseemsoddthat虫wouldmean"snake,insect"inthefollowingcharacter,that'sbecauseitactuallydoesn't! 融(1872:todissolve,melt) AccordingtoHenshall,theleftsideisa"largepotonastand."Eventhough虫istheon-dutyradicalhere,therightsidesupplies only thesoundofhissingsteam."Todissolve,melt"isaborrowedorassociatedmeaning. AComponentinSeveralJoyoKanji Finally,wecometoahandfulofkanjiinwhich虫isoffduty.Evenso,wecanseethatsomehavebuggymeanings,includingthisone: 繭(1223:cocoon) Let'slookattheothersbriefly: 強(100:strong) Theinsectmeaningactuallyholdsfasthere!Henshallsaysthatthischaracterrepresentsa"big,stronginsectthatpierces,"areferencetothe"horsefly."Who'dhaveguessed?! 騒(1530:tomakenoise) Henshallsaysthattherightsidemeans"troublesomeinsect,"alsoactingphoneticallytoexpress"confusion." 濁(1558:muddiness;impurity;voiced) Everythingtotherightofthe"water"radical氵means"caterpillar,"whichactsphoneticallytoexpress"impure"andmayalsolendconnotationsof"unpleasant,"saysHenshall. Asfortwofinalcharacters,虫isonlyamodernadditiontotheseshapes: 独(763:alone,single) 触(1428:totouch) However,it'sworthnotingthatbothusedtocontaincaterpillars,aswell! AChinesesigninHongKongincludes蟲,astackofthreeinsectradicals!Thisistheoldformof虫andmeans“insects,worms.”AccordingtoKanjigen, 蟲and虫wereoriginallydifferentkanji;蟲meant“insects,worms,"whereas虫meant“snake."However,虫cametobeusedasasimplifiedversionof蟲.InJapanese,thispyramidalshapeisanon-Joyokanjimeaning"bug,insect,temper."Ithasthekun-yomiofむし.Theradical,ofcourse,is虫. PhotoCredit:EveKushner AnUnexpectedWord Ican'tclosethisdiscussionwithoutsharingamostunexpectedword: 虫供養(むしくよう:Buddhistmemorialserviceforthebugskilledbyfarmersplowingtheirfields) There.Nowyoucango. RelatedEssays Note:Anessaythatisn'thyperlinkedisforthcoming. 1341(蛇:snake,serpent;harddrinker) 2090(虹:rainbow) 2109(蜂: bee;hornet;wasp) AllRadicalNotes 1.The"One"Radical:一 2.The"Rod"Radical:| 3.The"Dot"Radical:丶 4.The"KatakanaNo"Radical:丿 5.The"Fishhook"Radical:乙and乚 6.The"Barb"Radical:亅 7.The"Two"Radical:二 8.The"Lid"Radical:亠 9.The"Person"Radical:人,亻,... 10.The"Legs"Radical:儿 11.The"Enter"Radical:入 12.The"Eight"Radical:八   1of14 ›› RadicalNotesHome Advertisements PrivacyPolicy