漢字Kanji · in Animals & Wildlife
蚕: silkworm
JLPT N110 strokesGrade 6Your ink: 白 Not met
虫 carries the meaning · 天 gives the sound
10 strokes
Small seal · Qin Today
Small seal: Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Two readings, and the words that use each
サンsan · on'yomi · in compounds
- 蚕糸さんしsilk thread, silk yarn
- 養蚕ようさんsericulture, silkworm culture
- 蚕食するさんしょくするencroach, invade
かいこkaiko · kun'yomi · on its own
- 蚕かいこsilkworm
Also read テン, こ, with no example words in our sources. Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.
成り立ち
Where it comes from
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“Heaven (天) + insect radical = the 'heavenly insect' that provides the world with the miracle of precious silk.”
繋がり
Connections
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
Also read テン
12 kanji share this on'yomiEasy to confuse
The difference, side by side蚕 silkworm · 天
vs蚊 mosquito · 文In ChineseSimplified, as in Japanese · traditional 蠶 · cán
Japan uses the same simplified form as mainland China, 蚕. Taiwan and Hong Kong write 蠶.
- Simplified
- 蚕 mainland China, Singapore
- Traditional
- 蠶 Taiwan, Hong Kong
Pinyin cán most common reading
Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.
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