蝼

螻
lóu
noun

Meanings

  1. 1 mole cricket

Examples

HSK 7-9
Lóugū shì yì zhǒng zuān tǔ hàichóng.
A mole cricket, 蝼蛄, is a burrowing insect that harms crops.

Tips

history
蝼 never stands alone; it appears in 蝼蛄 (mole cricket) and the figurative 蝼蚁 (mole crickets and ants - i.e. lowly, powerless people). It joins the insect radical 虫 with 娄 for the sound.
register
Bound - found only in 蝼蛄 and the literary 蝼蚁, not as a free word.

Components

radical
虫 chóng
insect; worm
Insect radical 虫 on the left fixes the meaning: 蝼 is a kind of bug, the mole cricket. Same family as 蚂 and 蛛.
phonetic
娄 lóu
to drag; surname Lou
娄 on the right supplies the sound directly (lóu). The same phonetic appears in 楼, 搂 and 篓.

Stroke Order

蝼 lóu