How to Write 鸵 (tuó) — Meaning “ostrich”

Imagine a horse (马) carrying a big bird (鸟) on its back — that bird is an ostrich, which is too heavy to fly. The right part 它 sounds like 'ta', so you can think 'ta (it) is an ostrich running like a horse.'

The left radical 马 should be written narrower than the right component 它, and the final stroke of 马 is a long horizontal line. The right part 它 has a roof-like top (宀) and a short tail stroke, so avoid making the 宀 too wide. The total stroke count is 10, with the 马 radical using 3 strokes.

鸵 (tuó) means ostrich and has the bird radical 鸟 on the right, while 袅 (niǎo) means slender or delicate and has the same 鸟 radical but with a different left part (衣). 鸢 (yuān) means kite (the bird) and has the bird radical at the bottom, with a different top part (弋). Visually, 鸵 has 马 on the left, 袅 has 衣 on the left, and 鸢 has 弋 on top.

鸵 is almost always used in the word 鸵鸟 (tuó niǎo), which means ostrich, the large flightless bird. You'll see it in contexts like zoos, farming (鸵鸟蛋, 鸵鸟肉), and idioms like 鸵鸟政策 (ostrich policy), meaning ignoring problems. It is not a common standalone character.

Common words containing 鸵 include: 鸵鸟 (tuó niǎo) — ostrich; 鸵鸟蛋 (tuó niǎo dàn) — ostrich egg; 鸵鸟肉 (tuó niǎo ròu) — ostrich meat.