How to Write 雐 (hū) — Meaning “A type of bird (archaic); bird's cry”

Picture a tiger (虍) with a bird (隹) sitting on its head, making a 'hoo hoo' sound like hū. The tiger is trying to mimic the bird's cry, so you remember both the shape and the pronunciation.

Write the left side 虍 first with a narrow width, then the right side 隹 slightly wider to balance the character. A common mistake is making the 虍 too tall or forgetting the short hook at the bottom of the tiger radical.

雐 has the tiger radical 虍 on the left, while 雁 has a cliff radical 厂 on the outside with a person component inside. 雐 specifically refers to an archaic bird or its cry, whereas 雁 means 'wild goose' and is still used today.

雐 is very rare in modern Chinese and mostly appears in ancient texts or classical poetry as a name for a mythical bird. The onomatopoeic word 雐雐 (hū hū) may imitate bird sounds but is not commonly used in daily life.

Common words containing 雐 include: 雐雐 (hū hū) — Sound of a bird (onomatopoeia); 雐鸟 (hū niǎo) — Hu bird (a rare bird name); 雐声 (hū shēng) — The sound of a bird's cry.