凤 (fèng): phoenix (Chinese mythological b…

Meanings

1 phoenix (Chinese mythological bird)
2 surname Feng

Characters

凤

fèng

phoenix

Examples

龙和凤是中国文化中的吉祥象征。

Lóng hé fèng shì Zhōngguó wénhuà zhōng de jíxiáng xiàngzhēng.

The dragon and phoenix are auspicious symbols in Chinese culture.

她名字里有个凤字。

Tā míngzi lǐ yǒu gè fèng zì.

Her name contains the character for phoenix.

Tips

culture

In Chinese mythology, 凤 (fèng) refers to the male phoenix and 凰 (huáng) to the female, but 凤凰 (fènghuáng) as a pair represents the empress alongside the dragon (龙) for the emperor. 龙凤 (dragon-phoenix) symbolizes a perfect couple.

Components

radical

几 jī

small table; surround frame

The 几-shaped outer frame is the indexing Kangxi radical for the simplified 凤. Originally 鳳 contained a full 鳥 (bird) component; the reform collapsed that imagery and reused the 几-like outline as the lookup anchor surrounding a single inner stroke.

semantic

又 yòu

hand; again

The inner 又 (hand) is a graphic shorthand inserted by the simplification reform to replace the original 鳥. It carries no original semantic content here and acts as a placeholder body within the 几-frame, giving the modern 4-stroke 凤 (phoenix) its compact shape.