蝉
cicada
Readings
On'yomi
- セン
- ゼン
Kun'yomi
- せみ
Meaning
蝉 refers to the cicada, a loud summer insect. The meaning is specific and does not branch into abstract extensions.
Most common words using 蝉
20 of 28- 蝉せみN1
cicada; locust
- 空蝉うつせみ
one's present existence; this mortal frame; this world; this life; temporal things
- 油蝉あぶらぜみ
large brown cicada (Graptopsaltria nigrofuscata); aburazemi
- ミンミン蝉みんみんぜみ
robust cicada (Oncotympana maculaticollis); mingming cicada
- 蝉時雨せみしぐれ
outburst of cicadas singing; chorus of cicadas
- にいにい蝉にいにいぜみ
Kaempfer cicada (Platypleura kaempferi)
- 初蝉はつぜみ
first sound of cicadas of the year
- 唖蝉おしぜみ
voiceless cicada (female); Asian cicada
- 夏蝉なつぜみ
summer cicadas
- 夕蝉ゆうぜみ
cicada singing at dusk
- 姫春蝉ひめはるぜみ
Euterpnosia chibensis (species of cicada)
- 姫蝉海老ひめせみえび
slipper lobster of genus Scyllarus (esp. species Scyllarus cultrifer)
- 寒蝉かんぜみ
cicadas which sing in late autumn
- 春蝉はるぜみ
spring cicada (Terpnosia vacua)
- 松蝉まつぜみ
cicada abundant in late spring
- 法師蝉ほうしぜみ
Meimuna opalifera (species of cicada)
- 熊蝉くまぜみ
Cryptotympana facialis (species of cicada)
- 秋の蝉あきのせみ
cicadas that sing when autumn comes
- 秋蝉あきぜみ
cicadas that sing when autumn comes
- 笑い川蝉わらいかわせみ
laughing kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae)
Study
Etymology
蝉 combines 虫 (insect) with 单, which likely contributes the sound. The character is a phono-semantic compound for the cicada.
Meaning mnemonic
The insect radical 虫 on the left pairs with the right side 单, which looks like a simple net on a pole. Imagine catching a loud cicada in a net: 虫 + 单 = cicada.
Reading mnemonic
For セン, picture a cicada sending its shrill call across the trees: send -> セン, and the insect sends its sound.