Origin

This character combines the insect radical 虫 on the left, which identifies the character as referring to a creature with six legs, with the component 文 on the right. The 文 component serves as a sound hint, suggesting roughly how the character should be pronounced rather than contributing to the meaning. Together, the two parts create a character that visually signals "an insect" while the sound element helps readers remember the pronunciation. The character 蚊 eventually became the standard way to write the word for mosquito in Japanese.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint).