蛇

蛇 (radical 142, 虫+5, 11 strokes, cangjie input 中戈十心 (LIJP), four-corner 5311₁, composition ⿰虫它)

• 㵃, 𨫯, 𬠶

• KangXi: page 1080, character 20
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 32964
• Dae Jaweon: page 1548, character 36
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 4, page 2845, character 8
• Unihan data for U+86C7

Historical forms of the character 蛇
Warring States	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Chu Slip and silk script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Phono-semantic compound (形聲, OC *l̥ʰaːl, *ɦljaːl, *lal) : semantic 虫 + phonetic 它 (OC *l̥ʰaːl). 它 was also the original pictographic form of this character.

Unknown. Starostin sets up Proto-Sino-Tibetan *lăj (“snake”) and compared 蛇 with Mizo hlai-ba (“a species of snake”) and Jingpho pə³³ lai³³ (“a species of iguana”). Outside Sino-Tibetan, this was compared with Proto-Kam-Sui *dzuːi² (“snake”) and Proto-Hlai *ljaːɦ (“snake”) (< Pre-Hlai *Cilaːɦ).

Alternatively, Schuessler (2007) considered the Tai-Kadai forms to be possible borrowings from Chinese, and the above-cited Tibeto-Burman forms to be unrelated. In his view, a more likely relationship is with the /-lé/ in Khmer រលេ (rɔlei, “sinuously, in a twisting or wiggling manner (as a snake swimming)”). In Old Chinese, this also provides the second syllable in 委蛇 (OC *qrol lal, “winding; compliant; graceful”). 蛇 (“the winding thing”) is then a euphemism for common Sino-Tibetan 虺 (OC *hŋlulʔ, “snake”) for taboo reasons.

蛇

1. snake; serpent (Classifier: 條／条 m c; 尾 m)

   • 耶和華神對女人說：「你做的是甚麼事呢？」女人說：「那蛇引誘我，我就吃了。」 [MSC, trad.]
     耶和华神对女人说：“你做的是什么事呢？”女人说：“那蛇引诱我，我就吃了。” [MSC, simp.]

     From: 新標點和合本 (Chinese Union Version with New Punctuation), 創世記 (Genesis) 3:13

     Yēhéhuá Shén duì nǚrén shuō: “Nǐ zuò de shì shènme shì ne?” Nǚrén shuō: “Nà shé yǐnyòu wǒ, wǒ jiù chī le.” [Pinyin]

     And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

2. snake-like; snaky
3. emperor; gentleman
4. relating to illegal migration and people smuggling
5. (Cantonese, poker) straight
6. A surname​.

蛇

1. Only used in 蛇蛇 (“facile (of words); calmly; leisurely”) and 委蛇 (wēiyí, “winding; meandering; pretending interest and sympathy”).

From English sir.

蛇

1. (Cantonese) sir (used when addressing policemen or male schoolteachers)

• “Entry #7843”, in 臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan] (in Chinese and Min Nan), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2011.

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

• Go-on: い (i); じゃ (ja, Jōyō); た (ta)
• Kan-on: い (i); しゃ (sha); た (ta)
• Kan’yō-on: だ (da, Jōyō)
• Kun: へび (hebi, 蛇, Jōyō); へみ (hemi, 蛇); くちなわ (kuchinawa, 蛇)

/pemi/ → /ɸemi/ → /hemi/

From Old Japanese. The older form of modern hebi below.[1] Possibly cognate with Korean 뱀 (baem, “snake”).

Possibly related to, or influenced by, Old Japanese-derived verb 食む (hamu, “to bite”).

• Kun’yomi
  • IPA^(key): [he̞mʲi]

蛇 (hiragana へみ, rōmaji hemi)

1. (obsolete) snake

• 巳 (み) (mi)

/hemi/ → /hebi/

From earlier hemi.[1][2] The medial /m/ lost its nasal quality to become a plosive.

• Kun’yomi
  • (Tokyo) へ​び [héꜜbì] (Atamadaka – [1])[3][4][5]
  • IPA^(key): [he̞bʲi]

蛇 (hiragana へび, katakana ヘビ, rōmaji hebi)

1. snake, serpent
   • 1999 March 6, “デビル・スネーク [Devil Snake]”, in Starter Boxスターターボックス, Konami:

     目 (め)が一 (ひと)つしかないヘビ。冷 (れい)気 (き)をはき出 (だ)し、相 (あい)手 (て)を氷 (こおり)づけにする。

     Me ga hitotsu shikanai hebi. Reiki o hakidashi, aite o kōrizuke ni suru.

     A single-eyed snake that breathes out frigid air to freeze its opponents.

   • 1999 May 27, “生いき血ちをすするもの [Lifeblood-Slurping One]”, in Vol.3, Konami:

     暗 (くら)闇 (やみ)の中 (なか)、道 (みち)行 (ゆ)く人 (ひと)々 (びと)を襲 (おそ)う人 (ひと)型 (がた)の吸 (きゅう)血 (けつ)ヘビ。

     Kurayami no naka, michiyuku hitobito o osou hitogata no kyūketsu hebi.

     A humanoid blood-sucking serpent who assaults passerby from the dark.

   • 2000 May 1, “グラップラー [Grappler]”, in BOOSTER 7, Konami:

     ずるがしこいヘビ。太 (ふと)くて長 (なが)い身 (しん)体 (たい)で締 (し)め付 (つ)ける攻 (こう)撃 (げき)に注 (ちゅう)意 (い)！

     Zurugashikoi hebi. Futokute nagai shintai de shimetsukeru kōgeki ni chūi!

     Watch out! This devious serpent will grapple you tight with its long and thick body!

As with many terms that name organisms, this term is often spelled in katakana, especially in biological contexts, as ヘビ.

/kutinapa/ → /kutinaɸa/ → /kutinawa/ → /kut͡ɕinawa/

Compound of 朽ち (kuchi, “the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of verb 朽ちる (kuchiru, “to rot”)”) +‎ 縄 (nawa, “rope, cord”).[1][4][2][5] Literally “rotten rope”, based on the appearance of a snake.

• Kun’yomi
  • (Tokyo) くちなわ [kùchínáwá] (Heiban – [0])[4][3][5]
  • IPA^(key): [kɯ̟̊ᵝt͡ɕina̠ɰᵝa̠]

蛇 (hiragana くちなわ, rōmaji kuchinawa, historical hiragana くちなは)

1. (obsolete) snake

From Middle Chinese 蛇 (zyæ).

• On’yomi: Goon
  • (Tokyo) じゃ​ [jáꜜ] (Atamadaka – [1])[4]
  • IPA^(key): [d͡ʑa̠]

蛇 (hiragana じゃ, rōmaji ja)

1. snake, large snake, serpent

蛇 • (sa, i) (hangeul 사, 이)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

蛇 (hiragana ぱゔ, romaji pav)

蛇 (hiragana ぱゔ, romaji pav)

1. Alternative form of 波布 (“snake, viper, Okinawan habu”)

蛇 (hiragana ひび, romaji hibi)

Cognate with Japanese 蛇 (hebi).

蛇 (hiragana ひび, romaji hibi)

1. snake

蛇 (hiragana はぶ, romaji habu)

蛇 (hiragana はぶ, romaji habu)

1. Alternative form of 波布 (“snake, viper, Okinawan habu”)

蛇 (xà, thạch)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.