How to Write 鸪 (gū) — Meaning “Partridge”

Imagine an ancient (古) bird (鸟) that makes a cooing sound "goo-goo" like a partridge. The sound of the bird matches the pinyin "gū", so you can associate the character with both the image and the sound. This visual and auditory link makes the character easy to recall.

Write the left component 古 first (5 strokes: horizontal, vertical, vertical, horizontal, horizontal), then the right component 鸟 (5 strokes: dot, left-falling, horizontal, vertical hook, horizontal). A common mistake is confusing the left side with 舌 (tongue) instead of 古 (ancient) — remember 古 has a vertical stroke through the middle, not a horizontal line at the top.

鸪 is a left-right character with 古 on the left and 鸟 on the right, while 袅 has 鸟 on top and 衣 below (meaning slender or curling). 鸢 has 弋 on top and 鸟 below (meaning kite bird). Visually, 鸪 is the only one with a phonetic component on the left, making its structure distinct.

鸪 is rarely used alone; it appears mainly in the word 鹧鸪 (partridge), a bird often mentioned in Chinese poetry and folk songs. It also occurs in 鹧鸪菜 (a medicinal seaweed) and as a sound word 鸪鸪 (cooing). In everyday life, you will most often encounter 鸪 as part of the name of this specific bird.

Common words containing 鸪 include: 鹧鸪 (zhè gū) — partridge; 鹧鸪菜 (zhè gū cài) — a type of medicinal seaweed (Caloglossa); 鸪鸪 (gū gū) — Cooing sound.