How to Write 蛇 (shé) — Meaning “Snake”

Imagine that the right side 它 looks like a snake with a small head and a curled tail, while the left radical 虫 reminds you it is an insect-like reptile. You can also think: a snake says "shay" (like its pinyin shé) as it slithers. This double snake image makes the character easy to recall.

Keep the left radical 虫 narrow and write it with the standard 6 strokes: vertical, horizontal fold, horizontal, vertical, dot, horizontal. The right part 它 starts with a dot and then a left-falling stroke, followed by a vertical hook and a left-falling stroke; be careful not to make the right side too wide.

虹 (hóng) has 虫 with 工 and means rainbow, not a snake. 虺 (huǐ) is an old word for a venomous snake, but it uses 虫 with a different component (兀 or similar) and is very rare in modern Chinese. In contrast, 蛇 is the common everyday word for any snake.

蛇 is used to talk about the animal snake, such as 毒蛇 (venomous snake) or 小蛇 (small snake). It also appears in the zodiac phrase 属蛇 (born in the Year of the Snake), which is a popular cultural reference in Chinese astrology.

Common words containing 蛇 include: 毒蛇 (dú shé) — Venomous snake; 属蛇 (shǔ shé) — born in the year of the Snake; 小蛇 (xiǎo shé) — Small snake.