Common terrestrial gastropod without a shell. Often found in gardens and damp places.
After the rain, many slugs appeared in the garden.
Slugs prefer damp places.
Katakana spelling is standard for this word; usually written in kana.
Hiragana spelling, also common.
Kanji form is rare and mainly encountered in literary or specialized contexts.
The origin is uncertain. The kanji 蛞蝓 are ateji (phonetic equivalents) and rarely used. The word is native Japanese.