How to Write 鸡 (jī) — Meaning “Chicken”

Picture a chicken pecking at the ground with its beak: the left side 又 looks like a beak or a chicken's head, and the right side 鸟 is the bird body. Alternatively, think of '又' as 'again' and imagine a chicken that keeps pecking again and again.

Write the left side 又 first: stroke order is horizontal left-falling hook (㇇), then right-falling (㇏). Then write the right side 鸟: start with the top short left-falling stroke (丿), then the curved hook (㇆), then dots (丶) and horizontal (一). Common mistake: making the right side too wide or forgetting the dot inside 鸟.

鸡 means 'chicken', while 鸟 (niǎo) is the general word for 'bird' and 鸠 (jiū) means 'dove' or 'pigeon'. Visually, 鸡 has an extra component 又 on the left, whereas 鸟 stands alone and 鸠 adds 九 on the left. 鸡 is much more common in everyday vocabulary related to food and farming.

鸡 is used for the animal 'chicken' and in food terms like 鸡蛋 (egg) and 鸡肉 (chicken meat). In Chinese culture, chicken symbolizes good luck and is a common dish during Lunar New Year, and the phrase 鸡年 (Year of the Rooster) appears in the Chinese zodiac.

Common words containing 鸡 include: 鸡蛋 (jī dàn) — Egg; 鸡肉 (jī ròu) — Chicken meat; 小鸡 (xiǎo jī) — Chick.