héng
noun #65,990

Measure Word

zhī

Meanings

  1. 1 plover (bird of family Charadriidae)

Examples

Hǎitān shàng yǒu hěnduō héng zài mìshí.
There are many plovers foraging on the beach.
Héng de zuǐ duǎn ér zhí, pǎo de hěnkuài.
The plover has a short, straight beak and runs very fast.

Tips

usage
is a technical ornithological term. In everyday speech people just say 水鸟 (shuǐniǎo, waterbird); appears in field guides and bird-watching contexts.

Components

radical
niǎo
bird
Right side - pictograph of a bird in profile (eye, body, claw, tail), simplified from the more elaborate . The indexing radical, naturally so: is a plover, one of the short-billed shorebirds that scurry along beaches and mudflats. Same bird-family: chicken, duck, goose, eagle, dove, egret.
phonetic
xíng
to walk; row
Left side supplies the sound: xíng to héng with x/h alternation, an old shift surviving in the doublet / . itself pictures a crossroads - paths in four directions - meaning 'to walk, to go.' The picture reinforces meaning: plovers are restless waders, famous for their constant pacing along shorelines.

Stroke Order

héng