moth
General term for moths, as opposed to butterflies (蝶).
At night, moths gathered around the light.
At night, moths gather around the streetlights.
There are moth caterpillars on the leaves of this plant.
蛾 means 'moth', a nocturnal and usually duller-colored relative that learners sometimes confuse with the diurnal, colorful 蝶々.
蝶 (butterfly) is usually active by day and folds its wings up when resting, while 蛾 (moth) is often nocturnal and has feathery antennae and a stockier body.
counter for small animals · counter for rolls of cloth · archaic counter for horses · roll of cloth
Tinea translucens; clothes moth
Monema flavescens; oriental moth; slug moth
owlet moth; noctuid
geometer moth; geometrid
Indian owlet-moth
poisonous moth
Chelonomorpha japona (a species of owlet moth)
silkworm moth; silk moth
Pidorus glaucopis (species of moth)
Standard kanji spelling.
Katakana spelling, common in biological contexts or for emphasis.
The kanji 蛾 is a phono-semantic compound: the insect radical 虫 combined with the phonetic 我 (ga).
delicate eyebrows; shapely eyebrows · beautiful woman · crescent moon
pyralid moth; snout moth