How to Write 鹩 (liáo) — Meaning “myna or wren”

Picture a myna bird (鸟) sitting on a little branch that looks like the left side 尞. The left part resembles a small tree with extra twigs, reminding you that this bird is small and talkative. Say 'liáo' like 'leo' to connect the sound with the image.

The left side 尞 has many short strokes—write them in this order: horizontal, left-falling, vertical, then two dots, then another left-falling, horizontal, hook, left-falling, and a final horizontal slash. The right-side 鸟 is wider and ends with four dots; keep the left part narrow so the character stays balanced. A common mistake is adding extra horizontal lines in 尞.

鹩 (liáo) has the left component 尞, which looks like a series of small marks. 鹞 (yào) uses a different left part that looks like 䍃 (a jar shape), and it means a hawk or buzzard. 鹠 (liú) has a left part like 留 (liú), meaning a type of owl, so focus on the left side to tell them apart.

You will most often see 鹩 in the word 鹩哥 (liáogē), meaning the hill myna, a common talking pet bird. It also appears in 鹪鹩 (jiāoliáo) for wren, but this is less frequent. In Chinese culture, 鹩哥 is famous for mimicking human speech, and people sometimes raise them in cages at home.

Common words containing 鹩 include: 鹩哥 (liáo gē) — hill myna; 鹪鹩 (jiāo liáo) — wren; 养鹩哥 (yǎng liáo gē) — raise hill mynas.