How to Write 鹗 (è) — Meaning “osprey; fish hawk”

Imagine an osprey holding a fish in its beak — the left side 鱼 (fish) and right side 鸟 (bird) create the picture of a "fish bird." You can think: "The osprey is a bird that loves fish, so it has fish on the left and bird on the right."

The left side 鱼 has 8 strokes and the right side 鸟 has 5 strokes, totaling 14. A common mistake is writing the top of 鱼 too narrow or forgetting the dot in 鸟; keep both sides balanced and the dot clearly above the bottom hook.

鹗 (è) has 鱼 (fish) on the left, meaning it is a fish-eating bird. 鹁 (bó) has 孛 on the left and refers to a pigeon-like bird. 鹂 (lí) has 丽 (beautiful) on the left and means oriole, a colorful songbird. Their left-side components are completely different.

鹗 is not common in daily conversation and is not in the HSK lists. It appears mainly in scientific names for the osprey, in classical Chinese poetry, or in wildlife texts to describe this fish-eating bird of prey.

Common words containing 鹗 include: 鱼鹗 (yú è) — Osprey; 鹗鸟 (è niǎo) — osprey bird; 雄鹗 (xióng è) — male osprey.