How to Write 蜷 (quán) — Meaning “To curl up”

Imagine a worm (虫) that rolls itself into a tight scroll (like 卷, meaning to roll). The worm feels cold and curls up into a circle, so 蜷 means to curl up.

Write the left radical 虫 first (7 strokes), then the right part 卷 (7 strokes). Pay attention to the bottom of 卷: it has ㇆ (a horizontal hook) and then ㇟ (a curved hook) – do not mix them. A common mistake is making the right side too wide; keep the character balanced and slightly narrow.

蜷 (quán) means to curl up and uses the phonetic 卷. 蛐 (qū) refers to a cricket, as in 蛐蛐儿 (cricket), and has phonetic 曲 (qū, curved). 蛑 (móu) usually appears in 蝤蛑 (a type of crab) – its meaning is unrelated to curling. Visually, 蜷 has 卷 on the right, while 蛐 has 曲 and 蛑 has 牟.

蜷 is used to describe animals or people curling into a tight position, like 蜷缩 (curling up from cold) or 蜷伏 (lying curled up). It appears in descriptive writing and weather reports, but it is not a high-frequency character in daily conversations.

Common words containing 蜷 include: 蜷缩 (quán suō) — To curl up or huddle up; 蜷伏 (quán fú) — To lie curled up; 蜷曲 (quán qū) — To curl or twist.