<p>This can help you to distinguish 蝦 and 鰕 <a href="http://dict.variants.moe.edu.tw/yitia/fra/fra03660.htm" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://dict.variants.moe.edu.tw/yitia/fra/fra03660.htm</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>蝦 蝦蟆也。蝦蟆見於本艸經。背有黑點。身小。能跳接百蟲。</p>
<p>蝦 the toad. The toad can be found in Compendium of Medical Herbs. It has black spots at the back. Small one. Can jump to catch many insects.</p>
<p>鰕 鰕魚也。三字句。各本作魵也。今正。鰕者、今之蝦字。</p>
<p>鰕 the shrimp. In three characters. (this is 說文解字 typical wording) Other book says this is a kind of spotted fish. Now is corrected to shrimp. 鰕, is the character 蝦 we use now.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>so the character 蝦 came from 蝦蟆 (toad), but somehow it replaced 鰕 and become the right character. So if you want to have some shrimp, you should use 蝦.</p>
<p>Though I'm a native speaker, I'm still amazed that 鰕 is original character since I use 蝦 all the time. Thanks for your question.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-03-05T12:31:56.727Z
2014-03-05T12:31:56.727Z
2020-06-17T09:50:11.587Z
Yafufu
<p>According to modern science, shrimp is not a kind of fish, and it is not even <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertebrate" rel="nofollow">Vertebrate</a>，so you shall use 蝦 rather than 鰕. Because 虫 usually used to build glyphs related to worm-like animals, and 魚 used for fishes.</p>

<p>Exceptions: </p>

<ul>
<li><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whale" rel="nofollow">鯨 (whale)</a> is not fish, but ancient people simply don't know!</p></li>
<li><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snake" rel="nofollow">蛇 (snake)</a> is vetebrate, but people just think it is a huge earthworm! </p></li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-03-05T22:18:12.507Z
no, 虫 originally meant snake, but later it evolved to mean worm.
user58955
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-03-05T22:18:58.927Z
The old character for worm is 蟲, derived from 虫 (snake)
user58955
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-09-11T18:31:40.097Z
Pretty good. Funny too.
George Chen
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-03-04T11:51:35.663Z
2014-03-04T11:57:41.880Z
2014-03-04T11:57:41.880Z
Earth Engine
<p>You should use 蝦. As can be seen in <a href="http://www.zdic.net/zd/zi/ZdicE9ZdicB0Zdic95.htm">zdic.net</a> 鰕 used to mean shrimp, but is not used anymore in this meaning. In Japan it however is still a common character.</p>

<p>Using Google:</p>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.google.com.tw/#hl=en&amp;site=&amp;source=hp&amp;q=%E8%9D%A6+site%3atw&amp;oq=%E8%9D%A6+site%3atw&amp;gs_l=hp.3...12786.22078.0.23238.9.9.0.0.0.0.251.1012.5j3j1.9.0.les;..0.0...1c.1.4.hp.P0Jj0FTzGy4&amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&amp;bvm=bv.42768644,d.d2k&amp;fp=2504fab692a3f0a0&amp;biw=1366&amp;bih=643">蝦 site:tw</a> has about 7,060,000 results</li>
<li><a href="http://www.google.com.tw/#hl=en&amp;q=%E9%B0%95+site%3atw&amp;oq=%E9%B0%95+site%3atw&amp;gs_l=serp.3...81528.81528.0.81858.1.1.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0.les;..0.0...1c.1.4.serp.LKEqni1coyQ&amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&amp;bvm=bv.42768644,d.d2k&amp;fp=eccac1687bb4e61e&amp;biw=1366&amp;bih=606">鰕 site:tw</a> has about 29,400 results</li>
</ul>

<p>The latter is used in some exotic fish names.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-02-24T18:15:34.280Z
Thanks for your Google idea. I have never thought up such an idea!
Mike Manilone
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-03-04T18:56:59.517Z
I can confirm seeing `蝦` on dozens of signs and menus in Taipei. I can't recall seeing `鰕`.
hippietrail
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-03-05T15:06:57.760Z
Let's put it this way, 鰕 is old, 蝦 is new. Use the new one although both are the same.
user3992
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-03-05T16:15:01.307Z
@MikeManilone you have to be careful comparing number of hits sometimes - there's lots of "incorrectness" out there. For example 的, 地, and 得.
Steve
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-02-24T15:18:54.563Z
2013-02-24T15:18:54.563Z
BertR
<p>I found there are two characters for "xia1" (ghra as in Middle Chinese), 蝦 and 鰕.</p>

<p>Could someone explain what the difference is?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-02-23T10:09:04.740Z
http://www.zdic.net/zd/zi/ZdicE9ZdicB0Zdic95.htm
deutschZuid
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-02-24T03:37:51.000Z
@JamesJiao both of them have the meaning of "shrimp". Which one should I use?
Mike Manilone
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-02-24T05:16:10.880Z
@MikeManilone You should use "虾"
fefe
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-02-24T07:30:20.870Z
@fefe Um. No, I mean which one of them, not the simplified one.
Mike Manilone
<word-choice><meaning><characters>
What's the difference between 蝦 and 鰕?
# What's the difference between 蝦 and 鰕?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2013-02-23)

I found there are two characters for "xia1" (ghra as in Middle Chinese), 蝦 and 鰕.

Could someone explain what the difference is?

**Tags:** word-choice, meaning, characters

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: http://www.zdic.net/zd/zi/ZdicE9ZdicB0Zdic95.htm  
> **username_0**: @JamesJiao both of them have the meaning of "shrimp". Which one should I use?  
> **username_2**: @MikeManilone You should use "虾"  
> **username_0**: @username_2 Um. No, I mean which one of them, not the simplified one.  

---

## 3 answers

### Answer by username_7 on 2013-02-24. Score: 7 | Accepted answer

You should use 蝦. As can be seen in [zdic.net](http://www.zdic.net/zd/zi/ZdicE9ZdicB0Zdic95.htm) 鰕 used to mean shrimp, but is not used anymore in this meaning. In Japan it however is still a common character.

Using Google:

* [蝦 site:tw](http://www.google.com.tw/#hl=en&site=&source=hp&q=%E8%9D%A6+site%3atw&oq=%E8%9D%A6+site%3atw&gs_l=hp.3...12786.22078.0.23238.9.9.0.0.0.0.251.1012.5j3j1.9.0.les;..0.0...1c.1.4.hp.P0Jj0FTzGy4&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&bvm=bv.42768644,d.d2k&fp=2504fab692a3f0a0&biw=1366&bih=643) has about 7,060,000 results
* [鰕 site:tw](http://www.google.com.tw/#hl=en&q=%E9%B0%95+site%3atw&oq=%E9%B0%95+site%3atw&gs_l=serp.3...81528.81528.0.81858.1.1.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0.les;..0.0...1c.1.4.serp.LKEqni1coyQ&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&bvm=bv.42768644,d.d2k&fp=eccac1687bb4e61e&biw=1366&bih=606) has about 29,400 results

The latter is used in some exotic fish names.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Thanks for your Google idea. I have never thought up such an idea!  
> **username_8**: I can confirm seeing `蝦` on dozens of signs and menus in Taipei. I can't recall seeing `鰕`.  
> **username_9**: Let's put it this way, 鰕 is old, 蝦 is new. Use the new one although both are the same.  
> **username_10**: @MikeManilone you have to be careful comparing number of hits sometimes - there's lots of "incorrectness" out there. For example 的, 地, and 得.  

---

### Answer by username_3 on 2014-03-05. Score: 2

This can help you to distinguish 蝦 and 鰕 <http://dict.variants.moe.edu.tw/yitia/fra/fra03660.htm>

> 蝦 蝦蟆也。蝦蟆見於本艸經。背有黑點。身小。能跳接百蟲。
>
> 蝦 the toad. The toad can be found in Compendium of Medical Herbs. It has black spots at the back. Small one. Can jump to catch many insects.
>
> 鰕 鰕魚也。三字句。各本作魵也。今正。鰕者、今之蝦字。
>
> 鰕 the shrimp. In three characters. (this is 說文解字 typical wording) Other book says this is a kind of spotted fish. Now is corrected to shrimp. 鰕, is the character 蝦 we use now.

so the character 蝦 came from 蝦蟆 (toad), but somehow it replaced 鰕 and become the right character. So if you want to have some shrimp, you should use 蝦.

Though I'm a native speaker, I'm still amazed that 鰕 is original character since I use 蝦 all the time. Thanks for your question.


---

### Answer by username_4 on 2014-03-04. Score: -1

According to modern science, shrimp is not a kind of fish, and it is not even [Vertebrate](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertebrate)，so you shall use 蝦 rather than 鰕. Because 虫 usually used to build glyphs related to worm-like animals, and 魚 used for fishes.

Exceptions:

* [鯨 (whale)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whale) is not fish, but ancient people simply don't know!
* [蛇 (snake)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snake) is vetebrate, but people just think it is a huge earthworm!

> **Comments:**
> **username_5**: no, 虫 originally meant snake, but later it evolved to mean worm.  
> **username_5**: The old character for worm is 蟲, derived from 虫 (snake)  
> **username_6**: Pretty good. Funny too.  

---

