Translingual

Han character

蛇 (radical 142 虫+5, 11 strokes, cangjie input 中戈十心 (LIJP), four-corner 5311₁, composition ⿰虫它)

References

• KangXi: page 1080, character 20
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 32964
• Dae Jaweon: page 1548, character 36
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 4, page 2845, character 8
• Unihan data for U+86C7

Chinese

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 蛇
Bamboo and silk script	Large seal script	Small seal script

Phono-semantic compound (形聲, OC *l̥ʰaːl, *ɦljaːl, *lal) : semantic 虫 + phonetic 它 ‎(OC *l̥ʰaːl).

Etymology 1

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *lăj (Starostin).

Pronunciation

Definitions

蛇

1. snake; serpent   (Classifier: 條／条)
   • 耶和華神對女人說：「你做的是甚麼事呢？」女人說：「那蛇引誘我，我就吃了。」 [MSC, trad.]
     耶和华神对女人说：“你做的是什么事呢？”女人说：“那蛇引诱我，我就吃了。” [MSC, simp.]
     From: 新標點和合本 (Chinese Union Version with New Punctuation), 創世記 (Genesis) 3:13

     Yēhéhuá Shén duì nǚrén shuō: "nǐ zuò de shì shènme shì ne?" nǚrén shuō: "nà shé yǐnyòu wǒ, wǒ jiù chī le." [Pinyin]

     And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

2. snake-like; snaky
3. emperor; gentleman

Compounds

Etymology 2

From English sir.

Pronunciation

Definitions

蛇

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) sir (used when addressing policemen or male schoolteachers)

Etymology 3

Pronunciation

Definitions

蛇

1. Only used in certain words.

   蛇蛇  ―  yíyí  ―  facile (of words); calmly; leisurely

   委蛇  ―  wēiyí  ―  winding; meandering; pretending interest and sympathy

Japanese

Kanji

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

Readings

• Goon: い (i) (non-Jōyō reading), じゃ (ja), た (ta) (non-Jōyō reading)
• Kan’on: い (i) (non-Jōyō reading), しゃ (sha) (non-Jōyō reading), た (ta) (non-Jōyō reading)
• Kan’yōon: だ (da)
• Kun: へび (hebi), へみ (hemi), くちなわ (kuchinawa)

Compounds

Etymology 1

/pemi/ → /ɸemi/ → /hemi/

From Old Japanese. The older form of modern hebi below.^[1] Possibly cognate with Korean 뱀 ‎(baem, “snake”).

Possibly related to, or influenced by, Old Japanese-derived verb 食む ‎(hamu, “to bite”).

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• IPA^(key): [he̞mi]

Noun

蛇 ‎(hiragana へみ, romaji hemi)

1. (obsolete) snake

Etymology 2

/hemi/ → /hebi/

From earlier hemi.^[1][2] The medial /m/ lost its nasal quality to become a plosive.

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• (Tokyo) へ​び [héꜜbì] (Atamadaka - [1])^[3][4][5]
• IPA^(key): [he̞bi]

Noun

蛇 ‎(hiragana へび, katakana ヘビ, romaji hebi)

1. snake, serpent

Usage notes

As with many terms that name organisms, this term is often spelled in katakana in biological contexts, as ヘビ.

Etymology 3

/kutinapa/ → /kutinaɸa/ → /kutinawa/ → /kut͡ɕinawa/

Compound of 朽ち ‎(kuchi, “the 連用形 ‎(ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of verb 朽ちる kuchiru, “to rot””) +‎ 縄 ‎(nawa, “rope, cord”).^[1][3][2][5] Literally “rotten rope”, based on the appearance of a snake.

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• (Tokyo) くちなわ [kùchínáwá] (Heiban - [0])^[3][4][5]
• IPA^(key): [kɯ̥ᵝt͡ɕĩna̠ɰᵝa̠]

Noun

蛇 ‎(hiragana くちなわ, romaji kuchinawa, historical hiragana くちなは)

1. (obsolete) snake

Etymology 4

From Middle Chinese 蛇 ‎(zyæ).

Pronunciation

• On'yomi: Goon
• (Tokyo) じゃ​ [jáꜜ] (Atamadaka - [1])^[3]
• IPA^(key): [d͡ʑa̠]

Noun

蛇 ‎(hiragana じゃ, romaji ja)

1. snake, large snake, serpent

Derived terms

References

1. 1 2 3 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
2. 1 2 1995, 大辞泉 (Daijisen) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, ISBN 4-09-501211-0
3. 1 2 3 4 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13905-9
4. 1 2 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, ISBN 978-4-14-011112-3
5. 1 2 3 1997, 新明解国語辞典 (Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten), Fifth Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13143-0

Korean

Hanja

蛇 • ‎(sa, i) (hangeul 사, 이)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Miyako

Kanji

蛇 ‎(hiragana ぱゔ, romaji pav)

Etymology

Cognate with mainland Japanese 蛇 ‎(hebi).

Alternative forms

• 波布

Noun

蛇 ‎(hiragana ぱゔ, romaji pav)

1. snake, viper, Okinawan habu

Oki-No-Erabu

Kanji

蛇 ‎(hiragana ひび, romaji hibi)

Etymology

Cognate with mainland Japanese 蛇 ‎(hebi).

Noun

蛇 ‎(hiragana ひび, romaji hibi)

1. snake

Okinawan

Kanji

蛇 ‎(hiragana はぶ, romaji habu)

Etymology

Cognate with mainland Japanese 蛇 ‎(hebi).

Alternative forms

• 波布

Noun

蛇 ‎(hiragana はぶ, romaji habu)

1. snake, viper, Okinawan habu

Vietnamese

Han character

蛇 (xà, thạch)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.