Cicada Molt Character

It can name a cicada before its molt or the shell left behind.

In 蝮蜟, 蜟 refers to the cast shell; in 復蜟, to the cicada before it sheds. These older Chinese compounds supply the context that a lone 蜟 lacks.

How did the cicada term develop?

Older Chinese accounts describe a cicada's change from an immature form living in soil to the winged adult 蟬. Later medical writing uses this transformation as an analogy for bodily change, extending the term from insect vocabulary to a way of describing change.

Historical dictionary notes connect 復蜟 to 《論衡》, a classical Chinese text, and record 育 as an earlier spelling of the term. A 2024 Ministry of Education dictionary note says 《說文》 does not record 蜟. The account points to a written form that developed over time.

How can I type or display 蜟?

Use Mandarin Pinyin or a character-entry method.

With a Mandarin Pinyin input method, enter yu4 (or yù) and select 蜟. Wubi uses JYCE; Cangjie uses LIYIB.

Unicode hex entry can use 871F if your app supports it. Chinese, Japanese, and Korean fonts may draw the character according to different regional conventions. If it appears as a box or blank, the font may not have its glyph.