About
The character 蟮 is a phono-semantic compound. The radical 虫 (insect/creeping animal) on the left provides the semantic category, indicating a worm or similar creature. The right component, 善 (shàn), serves as the phonetic element, supplying the pronunciation. The character’s meaning is specifically “earthworm.” It is primarily used in the compound 蚯蟮 (qiūshàn), a dialectal or variant form of the more common term 蚯蚓 (qiūyǐn) for the common earthworm.