How to Write 虫 (chóng) — Meaning “Insect / Bug”

Imagine a small insect with a round head (the top box), a segmented body (the middle '口'), and a wiggly tail (the bottom stroke that bends). You can also think of the character as a picture of a bug seen from above, with its legs tucked in.

Write the top rectangle first, then the vertical stroke down the middle, followed by the two horizontal strokes inside, and finally the long bottom stroke that curves upward. Be careful not to make the final stroke too straight—it should have a slight hook to the left. A common mistake is writing the bottom stroke as a straight line instead of a curved one.

虫 is a standalone character meaning 'insect,' while 虬 (qiú) means 'dragon' or 'curved' and is rare in modern use; 虮 (jǐ) means 'louse' or 'nit' and is much less common. Visually, 虬 has an extra stroke (a hook on the right), and 虮 has an additional left component and a different right side.

虫 is commonly used as a noun meaning 'bug' or 'insect,' as in 虫子 (chóng zi) for a general bug or 昆虫 (kūn chóng) for the scientific category of insects. It also appears in compound words like 萤火虫 (yíng huǒ chóng, firefly) and is used figuratively in phrases like 懒虫 (lǎn chóng, lazybones) to describe a lazy person.

Common words containing 虫 include: 虫子 (chóng zi) — Insect / Bug; 昆虫 (kūn chóng) — insect; 萤火虫 (yíng huǒ chóng) — firefly.