蜂

蜂 (Kangxi radical 142, 虫+7, 13 strokes, cangjie input 中戈竹水十 (LIHEJ), four-corner 5715₄, composition ⿰虫夆)

• 𦾌

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1084, character 6
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 33088
• Dae Jaweon: page 1551, character 23
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 4, page 2857, character 7
• Unihan data for U+8702

Simplified from 蠭. Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *boːŋ, *pʰoŋ) : semantic 虫 (“insect”) + phonetic 夆 (OC *pʰoŋ, *boŋ, *ɡaːds) – a kind of insect.

Cognate with Tibetan བུང་བ (bung ba, “bee”) (Schuessler, 2007). STEDT lists 蜂 as a Chinese comparandum under its Proto-Sino-Tibetan root *pljum (“bee, wasp”).

May be ultimately of onomatopoeic origin. Compare Proto-Mon-Khmer *ʔu(ə)ŋ ~ hu(ə)ŋ (“bee, wasp, hornet”), whence Vietnamese ong (“bee”).

蜂

1. Apoidea or Vespa (wasps, bees and hornets)

   蜜蜂  ―  mìfēng  ―  bee; honeybee

   黃蜂／黄蜂  ―  huángfēng  ―  wasp

   • 聖人師蜂，立君臣；師蜘蛛，立網罟；師拱鼠，制禮；師戰蟻，置兵。眾人師賢人，賢人師聖人，聖人師萬物。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     圣人师蜂，立君臣；师蜘蛛，立网罟；师拱鼠，制礼；师战蚁，置兵。众人师贤人，贤人师圣人，圣人师万物。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: 《關尹子/关尹子》, 300s BCE

     Shèngrén shī fēng, lì jūnchén; shī zhīzhū, lì wǎnggǔ; shī gǒngshǔ, zhì lǐ; shī zhàn yǐ, zhì bīng. Zhòngrén shī xiánrén, xiánrén shī shèngrén, shèngrén shī wànwù. [Pinyin]

     The sages learned from the bees to have monarchs and subjects, and they learned from the spiders to have nets of justice. They learned from the ground squirrels to establish politeness, and they learned from the warring ants to deploy armies. The masses learn from the worthies, the worthies learn from the sages, and the sages learn from the myriad things.

2. (specifically) honey bee

   蜂蜜  ―  fēngmì  ―  honey

   • 逃生艙　內裡學種花　蜜會遇上蜂 [Literary Cantonese, trad.]
     逃生舱　内里学种花　蜜会遇上蜂 [Literary Cantonese, simp.]

     From: 2021, 張天賦, lyrics by 林寶, Good Time

     tou⁴ sang¹ cong¹, noi⁶ leoi⁵ hok⁶ zung³ faa¹, mat⁶ wui⁵ jyu⁶ soeng⁵ fung¹ [Jyutping]

     In the survival capsule, [you] learn to plant flowers, the honey will meet the bee

3. swarm

• (honeybee):

• → Proto-Southwestern Tai: *pʰɤŋꟲ (“bee; beeswax”)
  • Ahom: 𑜇𑜢𑜤𑜂𑜫 (phüṅ)
  • Lao: ເຜິ້ງ (phœng, “bee”)
  • Lü: ᦕᦹᧂᧉ (ṗhueng²)
  • Shan: ၽိုင်ႈ (phūeng, “bee”)
  • Thai: ผึ้ง (pʉ̂ng, “bee”)

• “蜂”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎, 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

1. bee, wasp, hornet

• Go-on: ふ (fu); ふう (fū)
• Kan-on: ほう (hō, Jōyō)
• Kun: はち (hachi, 蜂, Jōyō)

• 蜂窩(ほうか) (hōka)
• 蜂(ほう)起(き) (hōki): rebellion, uprising, revolt
• 養蜂(ようほう) (yōhō, “beekeeping, apiculture”)

蜂 (hachi): a bee collecting pollen.

/pati/ → /fati/ → /fat͡ɕi/ → /hat͡ɕi/

From Old Japanese.[1][2] First cited to the Kojiki of 712 CE with the logographic spelling 蜂.[1][2] In turn, from Proto-Japonic *pati.

Compare Korean 벌 (beol, “bee, wasp, hornet”).

• (Tokyo) はち [hàchí] (Heiban – [0])[2][3][4]
• IPA^(key): [ha̠t͡ɕi]

蜂(はち) or 蜂(ハチ) • (hachi) 

1. [from 712] a bee, a wasp, a hornet or the like
   • 938, Minamoto no Shitagō, Wamyō Ruijushō:

     蜂〈𧍙附〉 説文云蜂蠆〈峰帯二音 和名波知〉螫人虫也 四声字苑云𧍙〈音范〉蜂子也

     Bee (also 𧍙), has been said it is some kind of scorpion (The two characters are read [in Chinese as] futai; the Japanese pronunciation is fati). [The bee] stings people, insects, etc. (The four characters are read [in Chinese as] syau-zi-won-un). Also called 𧍙 (read [in Chinese as bon]) and FUSI.

2. [from 1892] (slang, used by criminals) a window
3. [from 1915] (slang, used by criminals) a police officer

As with many terms that name organisms, this term is often spelled in katakana, especially in biological contexts (where katakana is customary).

From Middle Chinese 蜂 (MC phjowng).

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [po̞ŋ]
• Phonetic hangul: [봉]

Wikisource 蜂 (eumhun 벌 봉 (beol bong))

1. Hanja form^? of 봉 (“bee”). [affix]

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典.

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

1. bee; wasp; hornet

• Kun: はちゃー (hachā, 蜂)

Cognate with Japanese 蜂 (hachi, “bee”).

蜂(はちゃー) (hachā) 

1. bee; wasp; hornet

• “はちゃー【蜂】” in JLect - Japonic Languages and Dialects Database Dictionary, 2019.

蜂: Hán Việt readings: phong
蜂: Nôm readings: ong

1. Nôm form of ong (“honey”).