猬 meaning and stroke order
Porcupine, hedgehog; many, varied; vulgar, low
How to write 猬, stroke by stroke
12 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
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Meaning of 猬
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- (bound form) hedgehog
How 猬 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Animal.
犭 gives the meaning and 胃 hints at the sound.
Radical: 犭 (dog), shared by 88 characters on this site.
How to remember 猬
猬 combines the animal radical 犭 with 胃 (wèi, stomach), which gives the sound. Picture a small animal curled into a ball so tightly that you only see its round belly, 胃, hidden under the spines.
猬 is a bound form, so it almost never appears alone. You will mostly meet it in 刺猬 (cìwei, hedgehog), where 刺 means thorn or spine. Example: 院子里有一只刺猬。(Yuànzi lǐ yǒu yì zhī cìwei.) There is a hedgehog in the yard.
Common mistake: Learners often write 猬 as 胃 alone, or swap the radical for 虫 because the traditional form is 蝟. In simplified Chinese, always use 犭 on the left. Also note that in 刺猬 the second syllable is usually said in the neutral tone, cìwei, not cìwèi.
Common words with 猬
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 刺猬 | cìwei | hedgehog |
猬 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 猬
How many strokes are in 猬?
猬 is written with 12 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 猬 mean?
猬 (wèi) means porcupine, hedgehog; many, varied; vulgar, low. A common word with it is 刺猬 (cìwei), meaning "hedgehog".
How do you pronounce 猬?
猬 is pronounced wèi, in the fourth tone (falling).
What is the radical of 猬?
The radical of 猬 is 犭, which carries the idea of "dog". Dictionaries list 猬 under this radical.
What is the traditional form of 猬?
The traditional form of 猬 is 蝟. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 猬 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.
Does 刺猬 mean porcupine or hedgehog?
In everyday modern Chinese, 刺猬 (cìwei) means hedgehog. A porcupine is usually called 豪猪 (háozhū), so use that word if you mean the larger animal with long quills.
Is there an idiom that uses 猬?
Yes, 猬集 (wèijí) means to gather in great numbers, like spines packed on a hedgehog. This literary word connects to the sense of many or varied, but it is rare in daily speech.