Clearly a superior system

    by Regina_Lapis

    9 Comments

    1. Context: the Chinese words for snake, spider and shrimp contain the radical 虫 meaning “insect”

    2. theholyman420 on

      This is interesting to me because I have a phobia of pretty much any arthropod (actual insects, arachnids, crustaceans, etc.) but snakes don’t bother me at all. Shrimp going in the same mental box as spiders makes perfect sense though

    3. Freikorps_Formosa on

      The oldest surviving Chinese dictionary [Erya](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erya) states that any living being, whether it flies or walks, has hair or scales, can be described using the character “蟲”. Although nowadays the character is only used for insects, the ancient Chinese used “蟲” to describe many other animals. Even tigers were once referred to as “Big Bugs” (大蟲) during the Tang dynasty.

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