xiā
𫚥
shrimp (literary/archaic variant)
Tone colorsmāmámǎmàma
Meanings
1 sense · 3 examplesnoun
shrimp; prawn (archaic literary variant of 虾)
archaicLiterary and archaic variant of 虾 (xiā). Found in classical texts and some place names. The modern standard simplified form is 虾 and traditional is 蝦.
《
Shuō说
wén文
jiě解
zì字
》
jì记
zài载
：
xiā鰕
，
yú魚
míng名
。
The Shuowen Jiezi records: xiā is the name of a fish.
Gǔ古
dài代
wén文
xiàn献
zhōng中
cháng常
yǐ以
xiā鰕
zhǐ指
dài代
xiǎo小
xíng型
shuǐ水
shēng生
jiǎ甲
qiào壳
lèi类
。
Ancient texts often used xiā to refer to small aquatic crustaceans.
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Rì日
běn本
hàn汉
zì字
zhōng中
réng仍
bǎo保
liú留
xiā鰕
zì字
，
rú如
yīng樱
xiā鰕
。
The character xiā is still retained in Japanese Kanji, as in sakura shrimp (cherry shrimp).