Definitions

shé (noun) snake; serpent

Etymology

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Originally written as .

Semantic: Phonetic:

About

is a phono-semantic compound: the radical (huǐ/chóng) on the left places it among insects, reptiles, and creeping animals, while the component (tā) on the right provides the sound. originally depicted a snake, and the character was first written simply as before the semantic classifier was later added to clarify the meaning. The character specifically denotes a snake, and metaphorically extends to things winding, malicious, or treacherous.

Etymology Hide

Clerical etymology image
Clerical Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)
Clerical etymology image
Clerical Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)
Clerical etymology image
Clerical Jin dynasty (266-420 AD)
Traditional Modern
Simplified Modern

Example Sentences Hide

这是一条小

Zhè shì yī tiáo xiǎo shé.

This is a small snake.

我看到了一条

Wǒ kàn dào le yī tiáo shé.

I saw a snake.

在草地上爬行。

Shé zài cǎo dì shàng pá xíng.

The snake is crawling on the grass.

是一种爬行动物。

Shé shì yī zhǒng pá xíng dòng wù.

Snakes are a type of reptile.

的皮肤非常光滑。

Shé de pí fū fēi cháng guāng huá.

The snake's skin is very smooth.

小心,那条可能有毒。

Xiǎo xīn, nà tiáo shé kě néng yǒu dú.

Be careful, that snake might be poisonous.

在动物园里,我们看到了许多

Zài dòng wù yuán lǐ, wǒ men kàn dào le xǔ duō shé.

At the zoo, we saw many snakes.

研究人员正在研究的毒液。

Yán jiū rén yuán zhèng zài yán jiū shé de dú yè.

Researchers are studying snake venom.