noun #13,788

Measure Word

zhī

Meanings

  1. 1 crane (bird)

Characters

Examples

Húbiān yǒu yī qún báihè zài mìshí.
A flock of white cranes was foraging by the lake.
Hè zài Zhōngguó wénhuà zhōng xiàngzhēng chángshòu.
Cranes symbolize longevity in Chinese culture.

Tips

culture
The crane (especially , the red-crowned crane) is one of the most important symbols in Chinese culture, representing longevity, wisdom, and nobility. Often paired with pine trees in art.

Components

radical
niǎo
bird
Right bird radical — the indexing radical, simplified from traditional (a pictograph of a bird with head, body, wing, legs, and tail-feather dot). Anchors in the bird family: chicken, duck, goose, pigeon, eagle. Marks the crane specifically — the long-legged, white-feathered symbol of longevity in Chinese painting and poetry.
phonetic
high-soaring (lid + short-tailed bird)
Left supplies the sound — hè exactly, no shift. The shape itself is a compound: (a covering or upper threshold) above (short-tailed bird), picturing a bird breaking through into the sky. A nice semantic flavor pre-baked into the phonetic: a high-flying bird, fitting the crane. This component also appears in / (certain) and / .

Stroke Order