CJK Character 蠑

Usually, it belongs inside an animal name, not alone. In Mandarin, the wetland-animal term is 蠑螈 (róngyuán), while 蠑螺 (róngluó) names a turbinid sea snail. In Japanese, 蠑螈 is read いもり and 蠑螺 can be さざえ; the Sino-Japanese reading is エイ.

As of 2026, no one-off inventor is documented; the earliest surviving lexical evidence found in this research is the Erya tradition's 釋魚 entry, which links 蠑螈 with 蜥蜴. Regional glosses place southern Chu's 蠑螈 beside 蛇醫, in a chain with 蝘蜓 and 守宮. Modern dictionaries narrow 蠑螈 to salamander or newt, leaving that older lizard-name network behind.

If someone sends 蠑 alone, treat it as unfinished

Alone, 蠑 reads dictionary-like and looks clipped or mistyped. Ask which compound they mean instead of guessing salamander, because the same character also starts a sea-snail name.