About
The character 猬 is a phono-semantic compound, with the semantic radical 犭 (animal) on the left and the phonetic component 胃 (wèi) on the right. Its traditional form, 蝟, used the radical 虫 (insect/reptile), reflecting an older taxonomic system. The shift to the mammal radical 犭 aligns it with modern biological classification, as 猬 specifically denotes a hedgehog. Although 胃 means "stomach", it functions here purely to indicate pronunciation, with no anatomical connection to the animal.
Etymology Hide
