What 蟫 means
It names a silverfish that damages books and clothing.
The Chinese dictionary 《說文解字》, compiled during China's Han dynasty, defines 蟫 as 白魚, literally “white fish,” and analyzes it as 虫, the insect component, plus 覃, the component used for sound.
How does 蟫 appear in Chinese and Japanese?
Its insect meaning stays; its dictionary labels differ by language.
Chinese references also use 白魚 (“white fish”) and 蠹魚 for the insect. In literary examples from the Ming and Qing dynasties, 書蟫 names the book-damaging insect. Japanese dictionaries mark 蟫 archaic and give the reading しみ, also written 紙魚 (“paper fish”), for the same insect.
Japanese dictionaries mark it archaic; Chinese examples are literary or lexicographic. In casual chat, it reads as unusually learned wording.
A standalone 蟫 may leave readers unsure what you mean; add context if you mean the insect.
Questions people ask
1Can 蟫 look different in another font?
Yes. Fonts for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean text can draw the same character differently. Taiwan’s Ministry of Education variant dictionary offers display modes for comparing forms; the insect meaning stays the same.
How to type 蟫
蟫\87EBCodes and encoding1 code points
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.