八哥 (bā gē) — crested myna bird (Acridotheres cristatellus)

Definition

noun

crested myna bird (Acridotheres cristatellus)

Measure word · 只

八哥。
Zuó tiān wǒ zài gōng yuán lǐ kàn jiàn le yì zhī bā gē.
Yesterday I saw a crested myna in the park.
八哥，。
bā gē De jiào shēng hěn tè bié, yì tīng jiù zhī dào shì tā.
The call of a crested myna is very distinctive; you know it as soon as you hear it.
八哥。
Yé ye yǎng le yì zhī huì shuō huà de bā gē.
My grandfather keeps a crested myna that can talk.

Single-morpheme word

构词法gòucífǎ

联绵liánmiánBound pair

Two characters that only ever appear together, spelling one ancient two-syllable word.

The characters 八 and 哥 carry no meaning of their own here; together they name the crested myna.

Sound-only characters

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

八 shows two bent lines, indicating the original meaning 'to divide'; it was later used for 'eight' because the words sounded alike.

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Appears in