About
The character 蛑 is a zoological term used primarily for marine crabs, most commonly in the compound 蛤蛑 (qiúmóu), meaning "swimming crab". Structurally, it is a phono-semantic compound: the left radical 虫 (insect/bug) places it among crawling invertebrates in classical taxonomy, while the right component 牟 (móu) provides its pronunciation. This character appears almost exclusively in classical literature and regional coastal vocabularies related to edible crustaceans.
Etymology Hide
