Bird-hole character 窼

A bird’s hole; also a variant form of 窠. Taiwan’s Ministry of Education gives the bird-hole sense the Mandarin Pinyin reading zhāo, roughly “jow” with a high, level tone. For the reading kē, roughly “kuh” with a high, level tone, it lists 窼 as a variant of 窠, meaning a nest, den, or hollow. Another Chinese character dictionary lists chāo, roughly “chow” with a high, level tone, as a reading glossed as equivalent to 巢 (“nest”).

The form combines 穴 (“hole”) with 巢 (“nest”). Older Chinese dictionary explanations distinguish birds nesting in trees (巢) from birds nesting in holes (窠); 窼 joins those elements for the bird-hole sense. The 2024 edition of Taiwan’s Ministry of Education variant dictionary says the older character dictionary 說文 does not record 窼 and lists later records including 龍龕手鏡 and 集韻.

Japanese references list the borrowed readings sō and shō, ka in one dictionary, and the native Japanese reading ねぐら (negura, roughly “neh-goo-rah”), meaning an animal’s roost or den.