(): frog, CL:隻|只

() is a Chinese character meaning “frog.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #2694 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, insect. Its radical form (insect) appears in many related characters such as (dàn, egg), (suī, although), (chóng, insect).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. frog
  2. CL:隻|只

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticinsect

Decomposition: ⿰虫圭 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
qīng wāfrog ()
niú wābullfrog
jǐng dǐ zhī wālit. a frog at the bottom of a well (idiom)
wā yǒngbreaststroke (swimming)
wā rénfrogman
shù wātree frog
yǔ wārain frog
zhōng guó lín wāChinese brown frog (Rana chensinensis)
jǐng wā zhī jiànthe view of a frog in a well (idiom)
hēi dǐng wā kǒu chī(bird species of China) Hodgson's frogmouth (Batrachostomus hodgsoni)
wā shìbreaststroke (swimming)
tái wā(derog.) Taiwanese
jiàn dú wāpoison dart frog
wā xié(diving, snorkeling) fins
chán zuǐ wāsautéed bullfrog with chili sauce
15
Total compounds
27
As first character
60
As last character
13
As middle character

appears in 15 compound words: 27 as the first character, 60 as the last, and 13 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

yǒng
0.62712,018 co-occurrences
qīng
0.53615,794 co-occurrences
tiào
0.4913,822 co-occurrences
0.4681,584 co-occurrences
shù
0.4562,298 co-occurrences
chòu
0.448588 co-occurrences
chǐ
0.4454,008 co-occurrences
0.42410,074 co-occurrences
xié
0.392462 co-occurrences
tuǐ
0.383486 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

jǐngdǐzhīwāHSK 7+

a “frog in a well”, a person of very limited outlook and experience

phrase
jǐngwāzhījiànHSK 7+

shallow and parochial outlook

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

字由12笔画组成,结构很巧妙。

wā zì yóu bǐ huà zǔ chéng , jié gòu hěn qiǎo miào .

The character for "frog" consists of 12 strokes and has a very clever structure.

UdnnewsindexApr 2026

基隆百福公园儿童游戏场融湿地 赤溜滑梯还有豆娘多种生态游具

jī lóng bǎi fú gōng yuán ér tóng yóu xì chǎng róng shī dì chì wā liū huá tī hái yǒu dòu niáng duō zhǒng shēng tài yóu jù

LtnMar 2026

日月潭九清淤出土! 深埋底层“王”重见天日

rì yuè tán jiǔ wā qīng yū chū tǔ ! shēn mái de céng wā wáng chóng jiàn tiān rì

Sun Moon Lake’s Nine Frogs Unearthed During Dredging! The “Frog King,” Long Buried at the Bottom, Sees the Light of Day Again

Hk01.comMar 2026

武汉食客食牛惊见“加料” 天花板穿洞人腿悬半空 食客...

wǔ hàn shí kè shí niú wā jīng jiàn jiā liào tiān huā bǎn chuān dòng rén tuǐ xuán bàn kōng shí kè . . .

Wuhan Diners Find "Extra Ingredients" in Their Bullfrog Dish; Man's Legs Hanging in Mid-Air After Ceiling Collapse; Diners...

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

...吴欣岱建议走3分钟就要有 游淑慧批井底之

. . . wú xīn 岱 jiàn yì zǒu 3 fēn zhōng jiù yāo yǒu yóu 淑 huì pī jǐng de zhī wā

... Wu Xindai suggested that there should be a frog at the bottom of the well after walking for 3 minutes

三立新聞網Feb 2026

台南2高工生想当网红“炮炸青”网骂翻

tái nán 2 gāo gōng shēng xiǎng dāng wǎng hóng pào zhà qīng wā wǎng mà fān

Tainan 2 senior engineering students want to be Internet celebrities "bombarding frogs" Internet scolding

Tatoeba

蟋蟀的叫声与鸣催我入眠。

Xīshuài de jiàoshēng yǔ wā míng cuī wǒ rùmián.

The sound of crickets chirping and frogs croaking lulls me to sleep.

Tatoeba

我无法区分青和蟾蜍。

Wǒ wúfǎ qūfēn qīngwā hé chánchú.

I can't tell a frog from a toad.

Tatoeba

我的喉咙里有一只青

Wǒ de hóulóng lǐ yǒu yī zhī qīngwā.

I have a frog in my throat.

Tatoeba

以前在这个池塘里有许多青

Yǐqián zài zhège chítáng lǐ yǒu xǔduō qīngwā.

There used to be a lot of frogs in this pond.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 蛙 (wā) mean in Chinese?
蛙 (wā) primarily means "frog." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2694 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 蛙 and 鞋?
蛙 (wā) and 鞋 (xié) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 虫 vs 革 (same 圭 component).
How many strokes does 蛙 have?
蛙 is written with 12 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 蛙?
The radical associated with 蛙 is 虫 (insect). This radical appears in many characters related to insect.
What are the components of 蛙?
蛙 is composed of: 虫 (semantic), 圭 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰虫圭 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 蛙?
Common words with 蛙 include: 青蛙 (qīng wā, "frog ()"); 牛蛙 (niú wā, "bullfrog"); 井底之蛙 (jǐng dǐ zhī wā, "lit. a frog at the bottom of a well (idiom)"); 蛙泳 (wā yǒng, "breaststroke (swimming)"); 蛙人 (wā rén, "frogman"). There are over 15 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 蛙 (wā)?
Several characters share the pronunciation wā: 哇 (Wow!), 挖 (to dig), 娃 (baby). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 蛙 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 蛙 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native 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.