How to Write 蜣 (qiāng) — Meaning “Dung beetle”

Imagine the right side 羌 looks like a dung beetle pushing a round ball of dung, with the top dot as the beetle's head and the strokes as its legs. The left side 虫 reminds you it is an insect, so 蜣 means 'the insect that rolls dung'.

Pay close attention to the right component 羌: it starts with a dot, then a horizontal stroke, followed by a left-falling stroke, two horizontal strokes, and a vertical hook at the bottom. A common mistake is to forget the dot at the top or to make the left part 虫 too wide.

All three share the insect radical 虫, but the right parts differ: 蜣 has 羌, 蚯 has 丘 (meaning hill), and 蚰 has 由 (meaning reason or a worm). These different components give each character a different pronunciation and meaning: 蜣 is the dung beetle, 蚯 is the earthworm, and 蚰 is a type of centipede.

蜣 is almost always used in the word 蜣螂 (qiāng láng), which means dung beetle. This character is not common in daily conversation and is not included in the HSK vocabulary, so you will mostly encounter it in scientific or nature-related texts about insects.

Common words containing 蜣 include: 蜣螂 (qiāng láng) — Dung beetle; 屎蜣螂 (shǐ qiāng láng) — Dung beetle.; 蜣螂转 (qiāng láng zhuǎn) — Dung beetle turning.