# Pronunciation: 螫



## yuechu

大家好！

I just wanted to ask people a quick question about the character 螫 in Chinese. Forum member SimonTsai gave the following translation in the "Jellyfish can sting you." thread: "小心！水母可能会螫伤你。". (Thank you, Simon! I hope you don't mind me asking a question about it here  )

It sounds like 螫伤 is usually pronounced "zhēshāng" in 台湾. How about in 大陆？Do people also pronounce 螫 as "zhē" or do you hear "shì" as well?

Thanks!


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## shiminyuan

Yes. 螫 is also pronounced as "zhē" in Mainland.


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## yuechu

OK! Thanks, Shiminyuan! 

The dictionary I use has "shì" as the primary pronunciation. Is it an old or literary pronunciation, do you think? (It sounds like it's not common, right?)

EDIT: Oh, and I just thought of a reason why this pronunciation might not be common. It sounds the same as 是 in Mandarin!


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## shiminyuan

Yes. You are right. It has another pronounciation of "shì" in the dictionary as you just said, but we only pronounce it as "zhē".


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## SimonTsai

yuechu said:


> The dictionary I use has "shì" as the primary pronunciation.


shi4 is listed as the secondary pronunciation in the official dictionary here:









(source: 教育部國語辭典修訂本)


> Oh, and I just thought of a reason why this pronunciation might not be common. It sounds the same as 是 in Mandarin!


I believe that it has very, very much to do with the character 蜇 (zhe2), which is synonymous:








(source: 教育部國語辭典修訂本)

*BONUS:*
螫 (*sh*i*4*) = 赦 (聲，*sh*e*4*) + 虫 (形，蟲也)
蜇 (*zh*e*2*) = 折 (聲，*zh*e*2*) + 虫 (形，蟲也)


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## shiminyuan

Only one pronounciation in everyday life. What you cited was from that of ancient Chinese.


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## SimonTsai

shiminyuan said:


> Only one pronounciation in everyday life.


Same here in Taiwan.


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## henter

螫伤属于比较正式的用法。是医学名词。在实际生活中一般会被咬和叮代替，比如说我被蜜蜂咬了或者叮了。很正式的说法是被蜜蜂蛰了。


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## hx1997

Let me put in some "standard" opinions on this. The mainland standard considers 蜇 and 螫 to be two different characters (i.e. one is not the variant/traditional/simplified form of the other). 蜇 has two pronunciations: zhē (for the verb) and zhé (for the noun). 螫 has only one pronunciation: shì, and it is the formal/literary version of the verb 蜇.

In everyday language, only 蜇zhē伤 is used (rather than 螫伤).


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## gonecar

水母可能会蜇伤你.=colloquially,水母可能会咬你。

被蜜蜂蜇了=被蜜蜂咬了。

被蚊子蜇了=被蚊子咬了。


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## shiminyuan

蜜蜂“蜇” （蜂类的伤害都叫“蜇zhē”）
蚊子“叮”
蚂蝗“咬”
水母“？”（不知道；因为我们没有被水母伤过。）
总之，每种动物/昆虫的伤害使用不同的动词。（Injuries made by different animals/worms are expressed by different verbs in Chinese.）


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## shiminyuan

“蜇zhē”：The harm from scorpion 蝎子 is also called “蜇zhē” (the same as the harm from bees 蜂). The movement of “蜇zhē” includes 1) a damage to human skin by the insect with a tail needle; 2) to inject the poisonous fluid into the human skin; 3) the skin would become reddish, edematous and feel severe pains (an inflammatory process). Thus, all harms from insects by a tail needle are called “蜇zhē”.
“叮” ： When mosquitos harm a person, they use a "mouth" needle, also inject "poisonous fluid", but cause victim's skin whithish, edematous and itching (not pains) (an immunological reaction).
"啄”： the harm from birds (including chicken) is called a "啄"。For example: 啄伤、啄瞎眼睛。【In the dialect of my hometown, the harm "啄" is replaced by "拧“， as a movement of rotation is included in the harm process by a bird/chichen. 】
In the above occasions, "咬" cannot be used as the verb. If "咬" is used, it would be a grammar mistake although we understand the meaning.
"咬": The harm made by an animal/insect by using teeth directly is called "咬". For example: 被狗咬伤、被毒蛇咬伤。


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## yuechu

Thank you all for your help! 



shiminyuan said:


> “蜇zhē”：The harm from scorpion 蝎子 is also called “蜇zhē” (the same as the harm from bees 蜂). The movement of “蜇zhē” includes 1) a damage to human skin by the insect with a tail needle; 2) to inject the poisonous fluid into the human skin; 3) the skin would become reddish, edematous and feel severe pains (an inflammatory process). Thus, all harms from insects by a tail needle are called “蜇zhē”.
> “叮” ： When mosquitos harm a person, they use a "mouth" needle, also inject "poisonous fluid", but cause victim's skin whithish, edematous and itching (not pains) (an immunological reaction).
> "啄”： the harm from birds (including chicken) is called a "啄"。For example: 啄伤、啄瞎眼睛。【In the dialect of my hometown, the harm "啄" is replaced by "拧“， as a movement of rotation is included in the harm process by a bird/chichen. 】
> In the above occasions, "咬" cannot be used as the verb. If "咬" is used, it would be a grammar mistake although we understand the meaning.
> "咬": The harm made by an animal/insect by using teeth directly is called "咬". For example: 被狗咬伤、被毒蛇咬伤。


Thanks for giving the specific definitions, Shiminyuan! 😄


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## Ghabi

shiminyuan said:


> 水母“？”（不知道；因为我们没有被水母伤过。）


So you don't have a specific verb for jellyfish? It's interesting because when I was a kid, there was news that people (when going to the beach to swim) got stung by jellyfish (known as 白鮓 baak6zaa3 in Cantonese) all the time. We say one gets 炸傷 by jellyfish, perhaps because 炸 and 鮓 are homophones.


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## shiminyuan

The harm from a jellyfish is also "蜇". Just by searching the internet, I begin to know that the jellyfish also has a needle, to inject poisoneous fluid to the human body, and to cause local inflammatory changes.
炸 is not correct if it is used here even though it is homogeneous with the fish 鲊. 炸 is only used for harms from lifeless materials (grenade, bomb, natural gas, methane, chemical substances from the factories or laboratories, etc.) other than from living creatures.


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## skating-in-bc

海䖳(zha4)扎(zha1)人 
海靼(zhe2)蜇(zhe1)人 

明.李時珍《本草綱目》䖳 ('jellyfish'), 乍宅二音, 南人訛為「海折」。
清.吴景旭《歴代詩話》水母即海靼 (【集韻】之列切, 音晢 zhe2), 靼音涉 (中原音韻 ʂiɛ, 入聲作平聲; cf. 越語 sứa [ʂɨ̞̠ɜ˦ˀ˥] 𩸲/𧍇/𧍅 'jellyfish'), 今人以蜇字當之, 訛也。

明朝清朝一些學者覺得「海折/海蜇」是錯誤的寫法, 現在「海蜇」卻成了正字, 有趣吧!!


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## shiminyuan

海䖳 and 海靼, These two words are from ancient Chinese. I have never heard of them. After I look up in the internet, I just begin to know their meaning were the same as jellyfish.
If "扎“ is used to express its harmful movement, it would be a biased expression.  "扎“ means "penetrate" or "pierce".
I have never seen a jellyfish and do not know how it injuries a person, either. Yesterday, before I answered the last question here about the harm by jellyfish, I searched the internet, and noted that the expression of harm by a jelly fish should be "水母蜇伤". Its harmful behaviours include "扎" and "an injection of poisonous fluid" and the subsequent inflammatory changes. Thus, to use "扎" to express its harm is biased, i.e., a partially expressed way.


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## skating-in-bc

shiminyuan said:


> Its harmful behaviours include "扎" and "an injection of poisonous fluid" and the subsequent inflammatory changes. Thus, to use "扎" to express its harm is biased, i.e., a partially expressed way.


"生於東海, 正白, 濛濛如沫, 形如覆笠, 泛泛常浮隨水" 的海䖳, 實際上也包括 Moon Jellyfish (_Aurelia aurita_; 海月水母, 別稱幽浮水母), 其毒性對大多數人起不了作用 (雖然少數人會有所反應), 故常被描述為 "一般情况下無毒".  所以我說無毒的 "海䖳(zha4)扎(zha1)人".

【春秋疏】毒傷人曰䖧。海靼 ('Flame Jellyfish' _Rhopilema esculentum_) 會 "䖧" (zhe1 知列切, 亦作蜇) 人, 輕者有紅腫熱痛等過敏反應, 重者可致死亡。

My point: 海蜇能毒傷人, 所以 "蜇" 人, 海䖳不一定能毒傷人, 所以可能僅是 "扎" 人.


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## shiminyuan

我们没有听说过"海䖳"这个词。这是古汉语。现在不用了。我们都不懂。
如果没有毒，那就是"扎"，不是"蜇"。


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## SuperXW

我这里的经验：
被水母/海蜇 蜇zhe1 了。是一般说法，不需要正式或有毒。
换成蚊子的话，只说被叮/咬，不说被蜇。


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