甲骨文 · 示意

小篆 · 示意

鸟

楷书

The Bird FamilyRadical 鸟

From a hedge sparrow to the wind-rider Peng

ShuowenShuowen: “Bird, the general name of long-tailed fowls. Pictograph. The bird’s foot resembles 匕.”

The oracle form of 鸟 is a standing bird in profile: beak, crest, wing, claw, tail cocked with spirit. The bird radical is the script’s register of feathers: sparrow, swallow, oriole for the eaves; eagle, vulture, falcon for the crags — and at the end, Zhuangzi’s Peng, “its back unknowable in its thousand li; rising in fury, its wings like clouds hung from the sky.” The Kun of the Fish Family turns into exactly this bird.

The Root Character · Reading “鸟” in Three Layers

See the form

The oracle bird stands in profile looking back: pointed beak, raised crest, folded wing, settled feet — a brush portrait.

Read the logic

The bird radical sits mostly on the right (chicken, duck, goose, magpie) or below (egret, mandarin): every feathered kind belongs here.

Grasp the wisdom

“The kite flies to heaven; the fish leaps in the deep.” What birds teach is ascent — from sparrow to Peng, the Chinese measured ambition by the size of a bird.

The Making of a Glyph

Oracle bone · schematic

Small seal · schematic

鸟

Regular script

Oracle boneStanding, looking back — beak, wing and claw all present.
BronzePlump wings; the posture rounds.
Small sealEven curves; claws like the character 匕.
Clerical & regularFour strokes and a hook: 鸟.

Glyphs are schematic reconstructions, not rubbings.

The Chain of Soaring

Bigger bodies, higher flights — the end of this chain is the pair of wings Zhuangzi lent to the Chinese mind.

From small sparrow to the great Peng

雀

què

The sparrow, man’s closest bird.

“The gate so empty you could net sparrows” — nearest to human dwellings, first to be forgotten.

Character Assembly · Two Parts Become One

When two parts walk toward each other, a new character is born. Watch how they meet.

鸣 míng

FormA mouth (口) beside a bird (鸟).

LogicA bird opening its mouth is 鸣 — among the plainest compound ideas.

Wisdom“When things lose their equanimity, they cry out” — bird and human heart cry with the same character. The “hundred schools contending” (争鸣) debated with this same mouth.

枭 xiāo

FormA bird (鸟) on a tree (木) — the night owl at its perch.

LogicOriginally the owl, roosting by day in trees. Old custom called it the unfilial bird — hence the punishment name 枭首.

Wisdom枭雄, “the owl-hero”: the night hunter became the name for a warlord of chaos — from bird to man in one character.

鸿 hóng

FormA shortened “river” (氵) beside a bird — the great bird of the rivers.

LogicFrom bird, with a clipped 江 as sound — and the sound hints the sense: a migrant riding the great rivers south and north.

Wisdom“The ambition of the swan (鸿鹄)” — a bird that crosses a thousand li has far-reaching aims. 鸿 also means “grand”: grand plan, grand scholar.

鹏 péng

Form“朋” beside a bird (鸟).

LogicOne theory: the ancient 朋 depicted phoenixes flying in flock — Peng and Feng, the phoenix, share a mythical root.

WisdomThe Kun becomes the Peng; the Peng rides the wind. And “friend” (朋友) — even friendship has a place in the myth.

Branches of the Family

Hover (or tap) a character to see what it means.

Feathered Neighbours

The daily birds of eaves and fields.

Birds of Prey

The hunters of the sky, each armed.

Parts & Deeds

Know a bird by its parts, its nest and its deeds.

From Bird to Person

Bird habits became human titles.

「How can a sparrow know the ambition of a swan?」
—— Records of the Grand Historian

「The kite flies to heaven; the fish leaps in the deep.」
—— Book of Songs