About
The character 蛜 is a phono-semantic compound that occurs almost exclusively in binomial names for small insects, especially the woodlouse. Its structure combines the semantic radical 虫 ('insect', 'bug') on the left, placing it squarely among insects and creeping creatures, with the phonetic component 伊 on the right. Although 伊 is normally a pronoun, here it conveys no meaning and serves only to indicate the pronunciation. The character is thus tightly bound to its compound words and very rarely stands alone, a good example of characters invented purely as phonetic syllables for the multi-syllabic names of particular organisms.
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