鹘 (gǔ): (in 鹘鸼) a kind of small bird wi…

Meanings

古书里提到一种叫鹘鸼的小鸟。

Gǔshū lǐ tídào yì zhǒng jiào gǔ zhōu de xiǎoniǎo.

Ancient texts mention a small short-tailed bird called gǔzhōu.

鹘鸼被描述为形似小山鹊。

Gǔ zhōu bèi miáoshù wéi xíng sì xiǎo shān què.

The gǔzhōu is described as resembling a small magpie.

usage

Read gǔ only in the old bird name 鹘鸼. For an actual falcon the character is read 鹘.

radical

鸟 niǎo

bird

The bird radical pins the meaning: whatever the reading, 鹘 always names a kind of bird, here a falcon.

phonetic

骨 gǔ

bone

Provides the sound; the reading has drifted from gǔ to hú over time, a common kind of phonetic loosening in older characters.

鹘 gǔ