How to Write 鹔 (sù) — Meaning “a mythical bird”

Think of a "solemn bird" — pronounce 肃 like "sue" and imagine a solemn, majestic bird wearing a serious expression. This combines the sound (sù) with the meaning (mythical bird) into one memorable image.

Write the left part 肃 first (9 strokes), then the right part 鸟 (4 strokes). Be careful with the 鸟 radical: the tail shape (horizontal stroke then dot) should be balanced, and avoid making the left side too wide, as 鹔 is a relatively narrow character overall.

鹔 (sù) means a mythical bird and contains 肃 on the left, while 鸷 (zhì) means a fierce bird of prey and has 执 on the left (holding). 鸸 (ér) is part of the word 鸸鹋 (emú, emu) and uses 而 on the left. Visually, the left components are completely different: 肃 vs. 执 vs. 而.

鹔 is extremely rare in daily conversation and mostly appears in classical literature or mythology. It is almost always paired with 鹴 to form 鹔鹴, the name of a legendary bird, or in phrases like 鹔鹴裘 (a coat made from its feathers). You will rarely encounter it outside of ancient texts or poetic references.

Common words containing 鹔 include: 鹔鹴 (sù shuāng) — Sushuang (a mythical bird); 鹔鹴裘 (sù shuāng qiú) — a fur coat made from Sushuang feathers; 鹔鹴鸟 (sù shuāng niǎo) — Sushuang bird.