螃 (páng): used in 螃蟹

螃 (páng) is a Chinese character meaning “used in 螃蟹.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 虫 (semantic) and 旁 (phonetic). It ranks #3112 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 螃 insect. Its radical form 虫 (insect) appears in many related characters such as 虫 (chóng, insect), 蛇 (shé, snake), 蛋 (dàn, egg).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. used in 螃蟹

Etymology & Origin

螃

pictophoneticinsect

Decomposition: ⿰虫旁 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
螃蟹nounpáng xiècrab
1
Total compounds
100
As first character
0
As last character
0
As middle character

螃 appears in 1 compound words: 100 as the first character, 0 as the last, and 0 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with 螃 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

蟹xiè
0.8182,468 co-occurrences
蘸zhàn
0.57646 co-occurrences
酱jiàng
0.49050 co-occurrences
虾xiā
0.48844 co-occurrences
钳qián
0.46716 co-occurrences
吃chī
0.38678 co-occurrences
椒jiāo
0.37618 co-occurrences
罐guàn
0.37218 co-occurrences
壳qiào
0.34914 co-occurrences
辣là
0.34816 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

了解螃字的来源,有助于理解中国文化。

le jiě páng zì de lái yuán , yǒu zhù yú lǐ jiě zhōng guó wén huà .

Understanding the origin of the character "螃" helps in understanding Chinese culture.

中国新闻网·生活Sep 2026

它的正确练习动作为横向螃蟹步走、蚌式开合。

tā de zhèng què liàn xí dòng zuò wéi héng xiàng páng xiè bù zǒu , 蚌 shì kāi gě .

The correct exercises for this are the sideways crab walk and the clam open-and-close.

中国新闻网·生活Aug 2026

礁石区 脚下湿滑易被卷走 很多人喜欢在礁石区赶海、捡螃蟹、拍照留念。

jiāo shí qū jiǎo xià shī huá yì bèi juǎn zǒu hěn duō rén xǐ huān zài jiāo shí qū gǎn hǎi , jiǎn páng xiè , pāi zhào liú niàn .

Reef Areas: The Ground Is Slippery and You Can Easily Be Swept Away. Many people enjoy foraging along the shore, catching crabs, and taking photos in reef areas.

中国新闻网·文化Jun 2026

螃蟹、登科、状元考卷……这些送考文物又火出了圈

páng xiè , dēng kē , zhuàng yuán kǎo juǎn zhè xiē sòng kǎo wén wù yòu huǒ chū le juān

Crabs, passing the imperial exams, top-scorer exam papers… These exam-related artifacts have once again gone viral beyond their usual circles.

中国新闻网·生活May 2026

但是请注意,处理海鲜的过程中,看似普通的鱼刺扎伤、螃蟹夹伤,却可能触发致命感染。

dàn shì qǐng zhù yì , chǔ lǐ hǎi xiān de guò chéng zhōng , kàn sì pǔ tōng de yú cì zhā shāng , páng xiè jiā shāng , què kě néng chù fā zhì mìng gǎn rǎn .

However, please be aware that when handling seafood, seemingly minor injuries—such as being pricked by a fishbone or pinched by a crab—can lead to life-threatening infections.

少数派Apr 2026

因为最近开始迷上喝茶了: 买了见山烧的网红螃蟹盖碗和石榴杯。

yīn wéi zuì jìn kāi shǐ mí shàng hē chá le : mǎi le jiàn shān shāo de wǎng hóng páng xiè gài wǎn hé shí 榴 bēi .

I've recently gotten into drinking tea: I bought the viral "crab-shaped" gaiwan and pomegranate-shaped cup from Jianshan Shao.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 虫 (insect) component

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 螃 (páng) mean in Chinese?
螃 (páng) primarily means "used in 螃蟹." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #3112 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 螃 and 磅?
螃 (páng) and 磅 (bàng) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 虫 vs 石 (same 旁 component).
How many strokes does 螃 have?
螃 is written with 16 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 螃?
The radical associated with 螃 is 虫 (insect). This radical appears in many characters related to insect.
What are the components of 螃?
螃 is composed of: 虫 (semantic), 旁 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰虫旁 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 螃?
Common words with 螃 include: 螃蟹 (páng xiè, "crab"). There are over 1 compound words containing this character.
Is 螃 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 螃 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 螃 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.