How to Write 鸹 (guā) — Meaning “crow / raven”

Imagine a crow (鸟) sticking out its long tongue (舌) and making a loud "guā guā" sound. This connects the shape of the two parts to the crow's call, which matches the pinyin guā.

Write the left part 舌 first (6 strokes: 撇, 横, 竖, 竖, 横折, 横), then the right part 鸟 (5 strokes: 撇, 横折钩, 点, 竖折折钩, 横). A common mistake is making the left side too wide or forgetting the dot inside the bird radical.

鸹 has 舌 on the left and 鸟 on the right, meaning crow. 袅 is a top-bottom character with 衣 above and 鸟 below, meaning slender or wispy. 鸥 has 区 on the left and 鸟 on the right, meaning seagull. The left parts are clearly different.

鸹 is rarely used alone in standard Mandarin; it appears mainly in the colloquial word 老鸹 (lǎo guā, crow) in northern dialects. 鸹叫 and 鸹噪 describe the cawing of crows, often with a negative connotation since crows are seen as unlucky in Chinese culture.

Common words containing 鸹 include: 老鸹 (lǎo guā) — A crow or raven.; 鸹叫 (guā jiào) — cawing of a crow; 鸹噪 (guā zào) — noisy (like the cawing of crows).