How to Write 鸫 (dōng) — Meaning “Thrush”

Think of the left part 东 as 'east' and the right part 鸟 as 'bird' — so 鸫 is an 'eastern bird'. You can imagine a thrush singing at dawn in the east to help remember both the sound dōng and the meaning.

The left part 东 is wider than the right part 鸟, and the bottom of 鸟 has a horizontal stroke, not four dots. A common mistake is making the bird radical too large, so keep the right side compact and aligned with the left.

鸫 is a left-right character meaning a specific bird (thrush), while 袅 is a top-bottom character with 鸟 above 衣, meaning 'slender' or 'wispy' (as in 袅袅). 鸢 is also top-bottom, with 弋 above 鸟, and means 'kite' (a bird of prey), not a thrush.

鸫 is not common in daily conversation and is mostly found in bird names like 乌鸫 (blackbird) or in scientific literature. It appears in poetry or nature descriptions when referring to the thrush family, known for their beautiful songs.

Common words containing 鸫 include: 乌鸫 (wū dōng) — blackbird; 鸫鸟 (dōng niǎo) — Thrush bird; 画眉鸫 (huà méi dōng) — Hwamei (a type of thrush).