About
The character 鼹 (traditional form 鼴) represents the mole, a burrowing insectivore, and is built as a phono-semantic compound. Its semantic left side, 鼠 'mouse/rodent', categorizes the animal among small mammals, while the phonetic right side indicates the sound, originally 匽, now simplified to 晏. In usage, it is nearly always found in the compound 鼹鼠, the name for this subterranean creature.
Report an issue
Flag incorrect definitions, examples, etymology, etc.