蚝 meaning and stroke order
A poisonous hairy caterpillar
How to write 蚝, stroke by stroke
10 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 蚝
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- oyster
How 蚝 is built
Ideographic (compound meaning) character. A hairy 毛 worm 虫; 毛 also provides the pronunciation.
Radical: 虫 (insect), shared by 197 characters on this site.
How to remember 蚝
Picture a hairy 毛 (máo) bug 虫 (chóng): the original meaning is a hairy caterpillar, and 毛 also hints at the sound háo. Today you mostly meet it as "oyster," so imagine a shy creature with a soft, furry-looking body hiding in its shell.
In modern Chinese 蚝 almost always means oyster, especially in food words like 生蚝 (shēngháo, fresh oyster) and 蚝油 (háoyóu, oyster sauce). Example: 我想买一瓶蚝油。(Wǒ xiǎng mǎi yì píng háoyóu.) I want to buy a bottle of oyster sauce.
Common mistake: Learners sometimes say máo because of the 毛 component, but the reading is háo with a rising second tone. Also, 蚝 is not the word for crab or shrimp; those are 蟹 (xiè) and 虾 (xiā).
蚝 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 蚝
How many strokes are in 蚝?
蚝 is written with 10 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 蚝 mean?
蚝 (háo) means a poisonous hairy caterpillar.
How do you pronounce 蚝?
蚝 is pronounced háo, in the second tone (rising).
What is the radical of 蚝?
The radical of 蚝 is 虫, which carries the idea of "insect". Dictionaries list 蚝 under this radical.
What is the traditional form of 蚝?
The traditional form of 蚝 is 蠔. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 蚝 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.
What is the difference between 蚝 and 牡蛎?
Both mean oyster. 牡蛎 (mǔlì) is the standard, more formal or scientific term, while 蚝 is common in everyday speech, on menus, and in southern China.
Does 蚝 still mean caterpillar in modern Chinese?
The caterpillar sense is an old dictionary meaning and is rarely used today. In real life, if you see 蚝, it will almost certainly be about oysters.