How to Write 鹛 (méi) — Meaning “babbler (bird)”

Imagine a bird with very prominent dark eyebrows around its eyes, like a "babbler" bird showing off its eyebrow markings. The left part 眉 looks like an eye with a brow, and the right part 鸟 is the bird, so you can think "eyebrow bird" to remember 鹛 (méi).

The left part 眉 must be written narrower and taller, while the right part 鸟 should be slightly wider and sit at a similar height. A common mistake is making the left part too wide or misplacing the small top stroke of 鸟 — remember the dot on top of 鸟 comes before the long horizontal stroke.

鹛 (méi) refers to a babbler bird, while 鹁 (bó) is a pigeon or dove, and 鹂 (lí) refers to an oriole. Visually, 鹛 has 眉 on the left, 鹁 has 孛 (bó) on the left, and 鹂 has 丽 (lì) on the left — each left component gives both pronunciation and a different meaning clue.

鹛 is rarely used alone; it appears mainly in bird names like 噪鹛 (zào méi, laughingthrush) and 鹛鸟 (méi niǎo, babbler bird). This character is mostly found in ornithology books or bird-watching guides, and it is not part of the HSK vocabulary for everyday Chinese learners.

Common words containing 鹛 include: 噪鹛 (zào méi) — laughingthrush; 鹛鸟 (méi niǎo) — babbler bird; 小鹛 (xiǎo méi) — Little babbler.