About
The character for "wax", now written as 蜡 in its simplified form, originated from a different traditional character, 蠟, which itself is composed of the insect radical (虫) combined with the component 葛, primarily serving a phonetic function. This structure points to its original meaning tied to a specific insect, historically referring to a kind of wax-producing insect or the insect-derived substance itself. Over time, the meaning expanded from the biological source to denote the material more broadly, encompassing both animal and plant-based waxes, and by extension, candles made from such materials. The modern simplified form 蜡, which uses the component 昔, was actually a separate ancient character originally denoting a type of sacrificial rite involving insects or a grub, but it was later adopted to represent the wax meaning, thereby merging two historically distinct words into a single written form while retaining the insect radical as a semantic clue to its organic origins.
Etymology Hide
Example Sentences Hide
蜡烛很明亮。
我用蜡笔画画。
她喜欢蜡像馆。
蜡烛在桌子上燃烧。
蜡制工艺品很精美。
蜡烛的光线很柔和。
蜡染是一种传统工艺。
蜡烛的蜡油滴下来了。