螟 meaning and stroke order
Caterpillar, larva
How to write 螟, stroke by stroke
16 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 螟
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- boring insect
- snout moth's larva (Aphomia gullaris or Plodia interpuncuella or Heliothus armigera etc), major agricultural pest
How 螟 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Insect.
虫 gives the meaning and 冥 hints at the sound.
Radical: 虫 (insect), shared by 197 characters on this site.
How to remember 螟
螟 combines 虫 (chóng, insect) on the left with 冥 (míng, dark) on the right, which gives the sound. Picture a larva hiding in the dark inside a plant stem, boring its way through.
螟 almost never appears alone. It shows up in farming and pest-control words such as 螟虫 (míngchóng, stem borer) and 螟蛾 (míng'é, snout moth). Example: 水稻里有螟虫。(Shuǐdào lǐ yǒu míngchóng.) There are stem borers in the rice.
Common mistake: Learners sometimes read 螟 as 冥 and forget the insect radical, or confuse it with 蛉 (líng) from 螟蛉. Keep the second tone for míng, the same as 冥 and 明.
Questions about 螟
How many strokes are in 螟?
螟 is written with 16 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 螟 mean?
螟 (míng) means caterpillar, larva.
How do you pronounce 螟?
螟 is pronounced míng, in the second tone (rising).
What is the radical of 螟?
The radical of 螟 is 虫, which carries the idea of "insect". Dictionaries list 螟 under this radical.
What does 螟蛉 (mínglíng) mean?
螟蛉 literally names a kind of moth larva. In classical usage it came to mean an adopted son, because people once believed wasps raised these larvae as their own young.
Is 螟 a common character in everyday Chinese?
Not really. You will mostly see it in agriculture, biology, or news about crop pests, not in daily conversation.