蜗 meaning and stroke order
Snail; Eulota callizoma
How to write 蜗, stroke by stroke
13 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 蜗
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- snail
- Taiwan pr. [gua1]
- see 蝸牛|蜗牛[wo1 niu2]
How 蜗 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Mollusk.
虫 gives the meaning and 呙 hints at the sound.
Radical: 虫 (insect), shared by 197 characters on this site.
How to remember 蜗
蜗 is built from 虫 (chóng, bug or small creature) on the left, which gives the meaning, and 呙 (guō) on the right, which hints at the sound. Picture a small creature 虫 carrying a round little house 呙 on its back, and you have a snail.
蜗 almost never appears alone. It is used in the word 蜗牛 (wōniú, snail) and in a few set phrases built on it. Example: 雨后花园里有很多蜗牛。(Yǔ hòu huāyuán lǐ yǒu hěn duō wōniú.) There are lots of snails in the garden after the rain.
Common mistake: Learners often read 蜗 as guō because of the phonetic part 呙, or mix it up with 锅 (guō, pot), which has the same right side. Mainland Mandarin uses the first tone wō, so check the left side: 虫 means snail, 钅 means pot.
Common words with 蜗
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 蜗牛 | wōniú | snail; Taiwan pr. [gua1 niu2] |
蜗 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 蜗
How many strokes are in 蜗?
蜗 is written with 13 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 蜗 mean?
蜗 (wō) means snail; Eulota callizoma. A common word with it is 蜗牛 (wōniú), meaning "snail; Taiwan pr. [gua1 niu2]".
How do you pronounce 蜗?
蜗 is pronounced wō, in the first tone (high and level).
What is the radical of 蜗?
The radical of 蜗 is 虫, which carries the idea of "insect". Dictionaries list 蜗 under this radical.
What is the traditional form of 蜗?
The traditional form of 蜗 is 蝸. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 蜗 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.
Why is snail called 蜗牛, with the character for cow?
牛 (niú) means cow or ox, and the snail's two long tentacles were compared to a cow's horns. The word is fixed, so you cannot drop 牛 and just say 蜗 for snail in normal speech.
What does 蜗居 mean?
蜗居 (wōjū) literally means a snail's dwelling and describes a very small, cramped home. People use it to talk about tiny apartments in big cities, for example 我住在一间小蜗居里 (wǒ zhù zài yì jiān xiǎo wōjū lǐ), I live in a tiny little place.