火烈鸟 (huǒ liè niǎo) — flamingo | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

flamingo

Measure word · 只

Examples

火烈鸟。
huǒ liè niǎo De yán sè shì fěn hóng sè de.
The color of flamingos is pink.
，火烈鸟。
Zài dòng wù yuán lǐ, wǒ kàn dào le hěn duō huǒ liè niǎo.
At the zoo, I saw many flamingos.
火烈鸟。
huǒ liè niǎo Huì yòng cháng cháng de tuǐ zài shuǐ lǐ zhǎo shí wù.
Flamingos use long legs to find food in water.

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.

火烈

火huǒfire烈lièfierce

主谓Subject + predicate

火 and 烈 suggest a flaming quality, and 鸟 names the bird.

Characters in this word

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

火 is a simple drawing of a fire, with flames shown rising upward.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

列灬烈

Meaning part形符xíngfú

灬Written in full as火huǒfire

Sound part声符shēngfú

列

列liè烈liè

Same sound today

烈 pairs 列 for the sound with 灬, a form of 火 (fire).

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.

Appears in

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.