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小鸟 (xiǎo niǎo) — small bird; young bird (hatchling, nestling, fledgling, chick); (fig., childish) penis; (golf) birdie

Definition

At HSK 7 the term matters beyond its literal sense: in golf 一只小鸟 means a score of one under par. The childish slang sense is rare and informal — skip it.

noun
small birdyoung bird (hatchling, nestling, fledgling, chick)(fig., childish) penis(golf) birdie
Measure word · 只

Examples

  • 小鸟。
    Shù shàng yǒu jǐ zhī xiǎo niǎo zài chàng gē.
    There are a few small birds singing in the tree.
  • 小鸟。
    Tā zài zhè yí dòng dǎ le yí gè xiǎo niǎo.
    He made a birdie on this hole.
  • 小鸟。
    Nà zhī xiǎo niǎo cóng wō lǐ diào xià lái le.
    That young bird fell out of its nest.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

小xiǎosmall
鸟niǎobird

“小” means small and “鸟” means bird, so the word names a small bird.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

  • 八八bāto divide; to separate
  • 丨丨gǔnsmall object

The shape of 小 comes from three small dots, later elongated into its strokes; the apparent parts 八 and 丨 are a later way of seeing it.

Open 小 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 鳥; 鸟 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 鳥 came from a drawing of a bird with a dangling tail; the simplified 鸟 is a later abbreviation.

Open 鸟 →
Appears in
Birds

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