Bird-worm seal script

Bird-worm seal script (Simplified Chinese: 鸟虫篆; Traditional Chinese: 鳥蟲篆; Pinyin: Niǎo Chóng Zhuàn) is a type of ancient seal script originated in China.

The Chinese character "鸟" (or "鳥" in traditional Chinese, and "Niǎo" in Pinyin) means "bird". The Chinese character "虫" (or "蟲" in traditional Chinese, and "Chóng" in Pinyin) means any creature that looks like a "worm", including invertebrate worms and reptiles such as snakes and lizards (and even the Chinese dragon). The character "篆" means "seal script".

Other names for this kind of seal script:

There are two subcategories (sub-styles):

Seal script evolved from Oracle Bone Script, and diverged into different forms in the Spring and Autumn period, after the power of the Zhou dynasty waned and China began to divide into different states.

This kind of seal script first appeared in the middle era of the Spring and Autumn period. It then became popular during the late Spring and Autumn period, and was most popular during the Warring States period. It was often seen in southern kingdoms, such as the Wu Kingdom (roughly today's Jiangsu Province), Yue Kingdom (roughly today's Zhejiang Province), Chu Kingdom (roughly today's Hunan and Hubei provinces), Cai Kingdom, Xu Kingdom, and the Song Kingdom. Each state in China during the Warring States Period had its own variety of script.