蜥
a lizard
Readings
On'yomi
- シャク
- セキ
Kun'yomi
- とかげ
Meaning
蜥 centers on a specific animal: a lizard. It is a zoological term with no broad abstract extensions.
Most common words using 蜥
20 of 25- 蜥蜴とかげ
lizard
- コモド大蜥蜴コモドおおとかげ
Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis)
- あの声で蜥蜴食らうか時鳥あのこえでとかげくらうかほととぎす
don't judge a book by its cover
- アメリカ毒蜥蜴アメリカどくとかげ
Gila monster (Heloderma suspectum)
- イエメン大蜥蜴イエメンおおとかげ
Yemen monitor (Varanus yemenensis)
- サバンナ大蜥蜴サバンナおおとかげ
savanna monitor (Varanus exanthematicus, species of carnivorous monitor lizard native to sub-Saharan Africa); Bosc's monitor
- ナイル大蜥蜴ナイルおおとかげ
Nile monitor (Varanus niloticus); water leguaan
- バルカン蚯蚓蜥蜴バルカンみみずとかげ
Iberian worm lizard (Blanus cinereus); European worm lizard
- レース大蜥蜴レースおおとかげ
lace monitor (Varanus varius, species of carnivorous monitor lizard found in eastern Australia); lace goanna
- 尻棘大蜥蜴しりとげおおとかげ
black-headed monitor (Varanus tristis); freckled monitor
- 昔蜥蜴むかしとかげ
tuatara (primitive lizardlike reptile endemic to New Zealand)
- 木登蜥蜴きのぼりとかげ
Ryukyu tree lizard (Japalura polygonata)
- 棘尾大蜥蜴とげおおおとかげ
ridge-tailed monitor (Varanus acanthurus); spiny-tailed monitor
- 毒蜥蜴どくとかげ
heloderm (any venomous lizard of genus Heloderma, incl. the gila monster and the beaded lizard)
- 火蜥蜴ひとかげ
Salamander (poem by Octavio Paz)
- 緑細大蜥蜴みどりほそおおとかげ
emerald tree monitor (Varanus prasinus); green tree monitor
- 蚯蚓蜥蜴みみずとかげ
worm lizard; amphisbaenian
- 角蜥蜴つのとかげ
horned lizard; horned toad
- 足無蜥蜴あしなしとかげ
legless lizard (esp. Anguidae spp., incl. glass lizards and slow worms)
- 鎧蜥蜴よろいとかげ
girdle-tailed lizard
Study
Etymology
蜥 combines 虫 (insect/reptile) with 析, which likely contributes the sound. The character was created to represent a lizard, a reptile associated with the insect radical.
Meaning mnemonic
The insect radical 虫 on the left suggests a small crawling creature, and 析 on the right looks like an axe splitting wood. Picture a lizard darting out from a split log: 蜥 is a lizard.
Reading mnemonic
For シャク, imagine a lizard basking on a shack in the sun: shack -> シャク, and the lizard warms itself on the wooden shack.