How to Write 鸩 (zhèn) — Meaning “Poisonous bird (mythical); poison”

Think of a dangerous bird that causes death: the left part 歹 looks like a skull or danger sign, and the right part 鸟 is a bird. Imagine that drinking the liquid from this bird’s beak is deadly poison.

Write the left component 歹 first: stroke order is horizontal, stroke down-left crossing, then dot. Then write the right component 鸟: short left-falling stroke, horizontal hook, dot for the eye, then four strokes for the tail. Common mistake is making the left side too wide or forgetting the dot in 鸟.

鸩 (zhèn) is a poisonous bird, while 袅 (niǎo) means “willowy” or “slender” and has a bottom part 衣 (clothing). 鸠 (jiū) means “dove” or “pigeon” and has the left side 九 (nine). Visually, 鸩 has 歹 on the left, 袅 has 衣 below, and 鸠 has 九 on the left.

鸩 is rarely used alone today; it appears mainly in literary or formal contexts. The most common expression is the idiom 饮鸩止渴 (yǐn zhèn zhǐ kě), meaning “drinking poison to quench thirst” — a short-sighted solution that makes things worse.

Common words containing 鸩 include: 鸩毒 (zhèn dú) — Deadly poison; 饮鸩止渴 (yǐn zhèn zhǐ kě) — drinking poison to quench thirst; a short-sighted remedy that makes things worse; 鸩酒 (zhèn jiǔ) — Poisoned wine.