How to Write 鬣 (liè) — Meaning “mane”

Imagine a hyena (鬣狗) with a wild, spiky mane. The top part 髟 looks like three tufts of hair, and the bottom part 巤 resembles the hyena's body with a striped pattern. This visual helps link the character to the idea of a mane.

Start by writing the top component 髟, which has three "hair" strokes at the top and a long horizontal stroke; keep it wide. Then write the bottom component 巤 — pay attention to its many small strokes and the left-right balance. A common mistake is making the bottom too narrow or mixing up the order of the inner strokes.

Both characters share the radical 髟 (hair), but 鬣 means "mane" (animal hair) while 鬟 means a woman's topknot or coiled hair bun. Visually, 鬣 has 巤 underneath, whereas 鬟 has 環 (huán) below; the pronunciation and usage are completely different.

鬣 appears mostly in zoological terms, the most common being 鬣狗 (hyena), often seen in nature documentaries or animal books. It can also be found in 马鬣 (horse mane) or 鬣毛 (mane hair), but these are less frequent in everyday conversation. The character is not part of the HSK vocabulary and is considered advanced or specialized.

Common words containing 鬣 include: 鬣狗 (liè gǒu) — hyena; 马鬣 (mǎ liè) — Horse mane (crest); 鬣毛 (liè máo) — mane hair.