Han character 𩻪

Its recorded meanings differ across sources. The Erya, an early Chinese dictionary, glosses 蕨 (edible bracken fern) as 虌. A Tang-era commentary says the young shoots were likened to a turtle’s foot and notes a related spelling, 鳖. Later Chinese reference works record 𩻪 as a written variant of 虌; some dictionaries also connect it with 鱉, the character for a softshell turtle.

Traditional glosses give regional names for the fern: 蕨 in Zhou–Qin and 虌 in Qi–Lu, two ancient Chinese regions.

What does the animal list tell us?

It suggests an animal, but not a species. An 18th-century Chinese local gazetteer, a regional reference book, lists 𩻪 with turtles, snails, clams, and other animals. That setting differs from the fern glosses, but it does not identify a modern species.

What does 𩻪 mean in Vietnamese?

A Hán-Nôm dictionary records it for the Vietnamese word bét. Hán-Nôm writing uses Chinese characters and characters adapted to write Vietnamese. The dictionary gives phrases such as be bét (a complete mess) and bét rượu (very drunk). Here the graph records a Vietnamese word, not a Chinese plant or animal name.