蛛 | zhū

In Mandarin Chinese, 蛛 (Pinyin: zhū 🔊) means “spider”. According to Wiktionary, 蛛 is a phono-semantic compound of semantic 虫 (“insect”) and phonetic 朱 (zhū), while Lawrence J. Howell writes in his Etymological Dictionary of Han/Chinese Characters that “the conceptual influence lent here by 朱 is uncertain”.

There are not too many compounds of 蛛. One of them is 蜘蛛 (zhīzhū 🔊) which is another word for spider. In Chinese, the 蜘 part is not used on its own; in Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese 蜘 also means “spider”. So does the reduplicated form, 蛛蛛 (zhūzhu). A compound of 蛛 with 网 “net”, 蛛网 (zhūwǎng), means “spider web”.

In Japanese, 蜘蛛 is pronounced kumo (🔊).

蜘蛛何と 音を何と鳴く 秋の風 芭蕉 Kumo nan to oto wo nan to naku aki no kaze With what voice, And what song would you sing, spider, In this autumn breeze? Bashō (Translated by R.H. Blyth)

More photos related to spiders, calligraphy and sea glass @ Shutterstock.

狐 | hú

In Mandarin Chinese, 狐 (Pinyin: hú 🔊) means “fox”. According to Wiktionary, 狐 is a phono-semantic compound of semantic 犭, which is a radical form of 犬 (“dog”), and phonetic 瓜 (guā).

Lawrence J. Howell writes in his Etymological Dictionary of Han/Chinese Characters:

As per 瓜 (solitary) + 犬 dog/beast → fox (that, atypically for Canidae, goes about in small family units rather than in packs).

However, 瓜 means “melon” or “gourd” rather than “solitary”. I prefer to think of the whole right part of this character as of the fox’s long bushy tail — which is the first thing distinguishing a fox from other Canids that comes to my mind. Well, not just to my mind — cf. Valencian word rabosa or Portuguese raposa, both from rabo “tail”.

Since there are way too many Mandarin homonyms of hú, Chinese use 狐 in combination with other words, for example:

• 狐 + 狸 = 狐狸 (húli 🔊): a fox; (figuratively) sly person
• 赤 + 狐 = 赤狐 (chìhú): red fox (Vulpes vulpes)
• 白 + 狐 = 白狐 (báihú): arctic fox
• 沙 + 狐 = 沙狐 (shāhú): corsac fox (Vulpes corsac)
• 火 + 狐 = 火狐 (huǒhú): red fox; red panda; Mozilla Firefox

狐狸精 (húlijīng), “fox spirit” or 九尾狐 (jiǔwěihú), “nine-tailed fox” refer to mythological creatures “who can be either good or bad spirits”:

Typically fox spirits were seen as dangerous, but some of the stories in the Qing dynasty book Liaozhai Zhiyi by Pu Songling are love stories between a fox appearing as a beautiful girl and a young human male. In the fantasy novel The Three Sui Quash the Demons’ Revolt, a huli jing teaches a young girl magic, enabling her to conjure armies with her spells.

(Let’s not use 狐狸精 in its modern derogatory and misogynist sense, OK?)

狐 (kitsune 🔊) also play a prominent role in Japanese folklore...

Stories depict legendary foxes as intelligent beings and as possessing paranormal abilities that increase with their age and wisdom. According to Yōkai folklore, all foxes have the ability to shapeshift into human form. While some folktales speak of kitsune employing this ability to trick others — as foxes in folklore often do — other stories portray them as faithful guardians, friends, lovers, and wives.

...as well as in poetry:

水仙に 狐遊ぶや 宵月夜 蕪村 Suisen ni kitsune asobu ya yoizukiyo Foxes playing Among the narcissus flowers In the early evening moonlight. Buson

飯ぬすむ 狐追ひ打つ 麦の秋 蕪村 Meshi nusumu kitsune oi utsu mugi no aki Driving away with blows, A fox stealing the rice; The autumn of barley. Buson (Translated by R.H. Blyth)

More photos related to foxes, beads and sea glass @ Shutterstock.

秋 | qiū

In Mandarin Chinese, 秋 (Pinyin: qiū 🔊) is a noun that means “autumn”, “harvest time” and, by extension, “year”, “period”, “time”. For example, 千秋 qiānqiū means “a thousand years” (and, figuratively, “a long time”). 秋 is found in many interesting compound words and expressions including

• 春 + 秋 = 春秋 (chūnqiū): literally, “spring and autumn” but figuratively a year, year’s time, person’s age, time in general...
• 中 + 秋 + 节 = 中秋节 (zhōngqiūjié): Mid-Autumn Festival
• 一 + 日 + 三 + 秋 = 一日三秋 (yīrìsānqiū): “a single day apart seems like three years”
• 春 + 花 + 秋 + 月 = 春花秋月 (chūnhuāqiūyuè), from the last poem by Li Yu: “the flowers of spring and the autumn moons”; a metaphor for a wonderful time spent in a beautiful location

秋 is an ideogrammic compound of 禾 “grain” and 火 “fire”. According to engYes,

In autumn, the Ancient Chinese would burn the fields to kill the locust eggs, in order to prevent them from eating the crops the following year.

Lawrence J. Howell in his Etymological Dictionary of Han/Chinese Characters provides rather different explanation:

The relevant oracle bone form of this character is 禾 grain/rice + 束 bundle → bundle and compact/shrink harvested crops in autumn/fall. The character was later reinterpreted, as shown by a seal inscription form that is 禾 plus an element combining 火 fire and 龜 turtle → dry and shrink the size of harvested crops (as turtle meat is dried over a fire; compare 焦). The present form repositions 禾 and 火 while eliminating 龜. Note also the variant form 龝, which combines 禾 and 龜.

More photos related to autumn and sea glass @ Shutterstock.

季 | jì

In Mandarin Chinese, 季 (Pinyin: jì 🔊) is a noun that means “quarter of a year” or “season”. 四季 (sìjì), naturally, refers to four seasons, i.e. 春 (spring), 夏 (summer), 秋 (autumn) and 冬 (winter). Some other compound words of 季 include

• 季 + 风 = 季风 (jìfēng 🔊): monsoon
• 雨 + 季 = 雨季 (yǔjì): rainy season
• 花 + 季 = 花季 (huājì): the flower of one’s youth
• 月 + 季 = 月季 (yuèjì): China rose (Rosa chinensis)

According to Wiktionary, 季 is an ideogrammic compound of 禾 “grain” and 子 “a child”, “a seed” etc.

More photos related to rice, cereals, grains and sea glass @ Shutterstock.