蚕 (cán): silkworm

蚕 (cán) is a Chinese character meaning “silkworm.” Outside the HSK 3.0 syllabus (CLEC 2022), it is composed of 天 (phonetic) and 虫 (semantic). It ranks #3460 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 蚕 insect. Its radical form 艹 (grass) appears in many related characters such as 蒸 (zhēng, to steam), 草 (cǎo, grass), 花 (huā, flower).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. silkworm

Etymology & Origin

蚕

pictophoneticinsect

Decomposition: ⿱天虫 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

Practice writing 蚕 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
蚕食verbcán shí(lit. and fig.) to nibble away at
蚕丝nouncán sīnatural silk (secreted by silkworm)
蚕豆nouncán dòubroad bean (Vicia faba)
蚕食鲸吞phrasecán shí jīng tūn(lit.) to nibble like a silkworm or swallow like a whale (idiom)
桑蚕nounsāng cánsilkworm
养蚕业nounyǎng cán yèsilk industry
蚕子nouncán zǐsilkworm eggs
家蚕nounjiā cánthe common silkworm (Bombyx mori)
蚕种cán zhǒngsilkworm eggs
草石蚕cǎo shí cánChinese artichoke
蚕宝宝nouncán bǎo bǎosilkworm
蚕山nouncán shānsee 蠶蔟|蚕蔟
养蚕nounyǎng cánto raise silkworms
蚕农nouncán nóngsericulturist
白僵蚕nounbái jiāng cánthe larva of silkworm with batrytis
35
Total compounds
66
As first character
26
As last character
9
As middle character

蚕 appears in 35 compound words: 66 as the first character, 26 as the last, and 9 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

蚕食鲸吞cánshíjīngtūn

to seize another country's territory by piecemeal encroachment or wholesale annexation

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

老师教我们蚕字的发音和笔顺。

lǎo shī jiào wǒ men cán zì de fā yīn hé bǐ shùn .

The teacher taught us the pronunciation and stroke order of the character for "silkworm."

爱范儿Jul 2026

揽胜首款 GT 即将问世,产品愈发激进的路虎,准备蚕食停滞的捷豹

lǎn shèng shǒu kuǎn G T jí jiāng wèn shì , chǎn pǐn yù fā jī jìn de lù hǔ , zhǔn bèi cán shí tíng zhì de jié bào

The Range Rover's first GT is set to debut; Land Rover, with its increasingly aggressive product lineup, is poised to chip away at Jaguar's stagnant market share.

中国新闻网·文化Jul 2026

陈钟辉称,当地一年可养五季蚕,产出的蚕丝莹润光亮。

chén zhōng huī chèn , dāng dì yī nián kě yǎng wǔ jì cán , chǎn chū de cán sī yíng rùn guāng liàng .

Chen Zhonghui said that five silkworm rearing seasons can be carried out there each year, and the silk produced is lustrous and glossy.

中国新闻网·生活May 2026

芸豆、扁豆、蚕豆和豇豆均带有“皂苷”,不焯透,上吐下泻准没跑。

芸 dòu , piān dòu , cán dòu hé 豇 dòu jūn dài yǒu zào 苷 , bù 焯 tòu , shàng tǔ xià xiè zhǔn méi pǎo .

Kidney beans, lentils, fava beans, and yardlong beans all contain “saponins”; if you don’t blanch them thoroughly, you’re guaranteed to experience vomiting and diarrhea.

IT之家May 2026

进一步谈到神行者是否可能蚕食 JLR 现有车型时,巴拉吉表示并不担心。

jìn yī bù tán dào shén háng zhě shì fǒu kě néng cán shí J L R xiàn yǒu chē xíng shí , bā lā jí biǎo shì bìng bù dān xīn .

When asked further about whether the Shenxing might cannibalize JLR’s existing models, Balaji said he was not concerned.

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Apr 2026

数万游客涌向浙江含山“轧蚕花” 00后成民俗新主力

shǔ wàn yóu kè chōng xiàng zhè jiāng hán shān 轧 cán huā 0 0 hòu chéng mín sú xīn zhǔ lì

Tens of Thousands of Tourists Flock to Hanzhou, Zhejiang, for the "Silkworm Flower" Festival; Gen Z Emerges as the New Mainstay of the Folk Tradition

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 虫 (insect) component

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 蚕 (cán) mean in Chinese?
蚕 (cán) primarily means "silkworm." It is not part of the HSK 3.0 syllabus. It ranks #3460 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 蚕 and 吞?
蚕 (cán) and 吞 (tūn) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 艹 vs 口 (same 天 component).
How many strokes does 蚕 have?
蚕 is written with 10 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 蚕?
The radical associated with 蚕 is 艹 (grass). This radical appears in many characters related to grass.
What are the components of 蚕?
蚕 is composed of: 天 (phonetic), 虫 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱天虫 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 蚕?
Common words with 蚕 include: 蚕食 (cán shí, "(lit. and fig.) to nibble away at"); 蚕丝 (cán sī, "natural silk (secreted by silkworm)"); 蚕豆 (cán dòu, "broad bean (Vicia faba)"); 蚕食鲸吞 (cán shí jīng tūn, "(lit.) to nibble like a silkworm or swallow like a whale (idiom)"); 桑蚕 (sāng cán, "silkworm"). There are over 35 compound words containing this character.
Is 蚕 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 蚕 and the traditional form is 蠶.

Practice writing 蚕 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.