鸬鹚 (lú cí) — cormorant

Definition

noun
cormorant
Measure word · 只

Examples

  • 鸬鹚。
    lú cí Shì yì zhǒng huì yóu yǒng de shuǐ niǎo.
    The cormorant is a kind of water bird that can swim.
  • 鸬鹚。
    Yú fū xùn liàn lú cí qù bǔ yú.
    The fisherman trains the cormorant to catch fish.
  • 鸬鹚。
    Hú shàng yǒu jǐ zhī lú cí zài xiū xi.
    There are a few cormorants resting on the lake.

Origin

Single-morpheme word
构词法gòucífǎ
联绵liánmiánBound pair

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

鸬lú
鹚cí

The characters 鸬 and 鹚 carry no independent meaning here; together they spell the bird name.

Sound-only characters

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 鸕; 鸬 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
鳥鳥niǎobird
Sound part声符shēngfú
盧
盧lú鸕
Same sound today

The traditional form 鸕 shows a bird, 鳥, and uses 盧 to give its sound; the simplified 鸬 is a later shorthand.

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

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