How to Write 鸣 (míng) — Meaning “To cry / To sing (of birds or insects)”

Imagine a bird (鸟) opening its beak (口) to sing a tune. The left side is the mouth and the right side is the bird, so 鸣 literally shows a bird using its mouth to make a sound.

Write the left side 口 first (three strokes), then the right side 鸟 (five strokes). The mouth should be small and placed high, while the bird's head and body should be balanced. A common mistake is making the mouth too big or misaligning the two parts.

鸣 has 鸟 (bird) on the right, so it means bird sounds. 吁 has 于 (yú) on the right and means to sigh or to appeal. 吂 has 亡 (wáng) on the right and is a rare character meaning "old" or "not speaking." The key difference is the right-side component.

鸣 is common in words like 鸣叫 (to chirp) and 鸣笛 (to honk). The idiom 孤掌难鸣 (gū zhǎng nán míng) literally means "one hand cannot clap" and is used to say that it is hard to achieve anything alone. This expression often appears in discussions about teamwork.

Common words containing 鸣 include: 鸣叫 (míng jiào) — To chirp / To cry / To call; 鸣笛 (míng dí) — To honk / To sound a whistle; 孤掌难鸣 (gū zhǎng nán míng) — it's hard to clap with one hand; difficult to achieve anything alone.