Definitions
variant of 蝦|虾[xiā]
Etymology
About
鰕 is a phono-semantic compound composed of the semantic radical 魚 (fish/aquatic creature) and the phonetic 叚 (xiā). It serves as a traditional, alternative orthographical form for shrimp or prawns, essentially a variant of the much more common 虾. By using the aquatic radical instead of the insect radical 虫, it reflects an older biological taxonomy that categorized shrimp under aquatic animals. Today, its use is mostly restricted to classical literature, regional contexts, and specialized biological lexicons describing crustacean species.
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