Mosquito-Mother Bird Character

It names an old bird called 蚊母, “mosquito mother.” Chinese reference works gloss 鷏 as 蚊母. The Erya, an early Chinese glossary, includes the bird entry; its bird section is generally dated around the 3rd century BCE, though the work took shape over time.

Mandarin Pinyin, the standard spelling system for Mandarin sounds in Latin letters, writes its reading as tián; the mark over á signals a rising tone. Guo Pu’s commentary describes a large crow-like bird with yellow-and-white markings and a pigeon-like call, and says Jiangdong called it 蚊母.

Later accounts use 吐蚊鳥 (“mosquito-spitting bird”) and give other local descriptions. They do not settle which modern species the old bird name refers to; one Chinese character database also lists “nightjar.” Reference data analyzes ⿰真鳥 as 真 supplying a sound cue and 鳥 marking the bird category.

A lone 鷏 needs context

A lone 鷏 has no fixed chat meaning. As of 2026, the references document it as a bird-name character rather than a settled chat convention. Treat a one-character message as an exact-character question, or ask what the sender intends.

Chinese references gloss 鷏 as 蚊母. Japanese kanji references give the related form 鷆 two Japanese readings, written かすい and よたか. Those are language-specific dictionary entries, not evidence that separate encoded characters are interchangeable in every text or dataset.

Use 鷏 when discussing an old bird name or preserving an exact character from a source; in a casual message, it gives no emotional cue by itself.

Why does 鷏 look different in fonts?

A font may draw this Han character differently or omit it. 鷏 and 鷆 are separate encoded characters. Regional CJK fonts can vary the visible strokes; a missing glyph may appear as a box. When exact text matters, distinguish the stored character from its appearance.