Bird character

It means “bird”; language and placement supply the reading. Japanese has a standalone とり (tori) reading and often uses ちょう (chō) in compounds, entered as chou on a Japanese keyboard; in Chinese writing, 鳥 is the Traditional form corresponding to Simplified 鸟.

The recognizable form appears in Shang-period oracle-bone writing, carved on animal bones and turtle shells used for divination. It served as a bird-shaped sign for a word, then changed with later script styles.

Japanese とり also has senses for chicken, chicken meat, and pheasant. A dictionary example from 1681 uses it for an easy target.

If someone sends only 鳥, what should I read?

Read it as a word, not a mood. A bare 鳥 may be a language fragment, quotation, name element, or learning example; the rest of the message supplies the context.

The sender’s language matters more than the bird-like shape: Chinese writing uses it for the bird word, while Japanese may read it as とり or as part of a compound.

Why does 鳥 look different, and how is it related to 隹?

Regional fonts can change its shape; 隹 has a historical link.

As of 2026, Chinese and Japanese fonts may draw different regional glyph designs for the same encoded character. Read the surrounding text, not the shape alone, to tell which language is in use.

鳥 and 隹 are both bird-shaped in early writing. Accounts differ on whether they began as one graphic tradition or separate signs for long- and short-tailed birds; early texts use them interchangeably as components in other characters, including 集, 隻, and 進.