Notes to Glossary of Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese Bird Names

The use of Chinese characters (kanji) to write Japanese bird names

 

Other sections:
Guide to the Glossary
The development of bird names in CJV
The state of standardisation of bird names in CJV
How the common names have been 'regularised'
The influence of orthography
Why I got involved in this glossary

 

Japanese possesses a complicated writing system, but possibly nowhere does it reach such complexity as it does in bird, animal and plant names. Indeed, this was a major factor behind the decision to write scientific names in katakana.

Elsewhere I've described the writing system of Japanese as the 'outcome of a struggle to adapt Chinese characters to the writing of a completely different language, involving many makeshift strategies and compromises' (see Writing System of Japanese).

The fact that the vocabularies of Chinese and Japanese often did not match created many problems in matching Japanese words to Chinese characters (the so-called kun readings). In the case of bird names, Japanese often had specific bird names for which no suitable Chinese characters could be found. The result was a number of fascinating workarounds.

The following description proceeds from the assumption that the Japanese asked themselves a basic question: 'Here we have a Japanese bird name. How best can we write this with the Chinese characters available to us?' Since compound words in both Chinese and Japanese are a complicating factor, I've separated simple Japanese words from compound words.

The actual process took place over a long period of time and was obviously more complex and dynamic than this treatment suggests, with a certain creative interaction taking place between Chinese characters and the Japanese language, but this approach is useful for throwing the issues into relief. These notes are based on secondary sources that I happen to have to hand. They are thus of a preliminary nature. In particular, I have relied heavily on Obunsha's Kanwa Jiten to clarify the original usage of many characters.

1. Simple Japanese Bird Names

(1) WHERE SUITABLE WORDS EXISTED

(a) Straightforward adoption of Chinese characters

First, let us look at the ideal case, that of a reasonable fit between the two languages. Some key examples can be seen below.

To write the Japanese words in the first column, the Japanese turned to the equivalent birds in Chinese (Chinese meaning and pronunciation shown in columns 4 & 5).

Japanese word	Meaning	Chinese character chosen	Chinese meaning	Chinese pronunciation	Comments
kiji	'pheasant'	雉	'pheasant'	zhì
tsuru	'crane'	鶴	'crane'	hè
shigi	'snipe'	鷸	'snipe'	yù	A Japanese character, 鴫, has also been invented to represent this bird.
kamome	'gull'	鴎	'gull'	ōu
taka	'hawk'	鷹	'hawk'	yīng
sagi	'heron'	鷺	'heron'	lù
uguisu	'warbler'	鴬	'warbler'	yīng
tsubame	'swallow'	燕	'swallow'	yàn	Also represents the variants tsubakuro and tsubakura.
suzume	'sparrow'	雀	'sparrow'	què	In Chinese, now usually called má-què.
Fuller list of examples... (in popup window)

(b) Where more than one suitable character was available

Occasionally Chinese offered two or more alternatives for writing the same Japanese word. Sometimes this resulted in a choice of characters, in others only one character came into general use. The table below shows cases where a single Japanese name (first column) could be written with two different Chinese characters (columns 3, 4 & 5):

Japanese word	Meaning	Chinese characters	Chinese meanings	Chinese pronunciation	Result
fukurō	'owl'	梟	'owl'	xiāo	Only 梟 is used.
		鴞	'owl'	xiāo
karasu	'crow'	鴉	'crow'	yā	Either character can be used to write karasu.
		烏	'crow'	wū
washi	'eagle'	鷲	'eagle'	jiù	In reality 鷲 only is used.
		鵰	'eagle'	diāo
kamo	'wild duck'	鴨	'duck'	yā	鴨 is the normal usage.
		鳧	'wild duck'	fú

(c) Where the Chinese equivalent was a disyllabic word

In some cases the Chinese equivalent was a disyllabic word. The Chinese writing system traditionally splits disyllabic words into two syllables (i.e., two separate characters), as though they were compound words. The somewhat ungainly result is that a single Japanese word is written with two characters.

Japanese word	Meaning	Chinese characters chosen	Chinese meaning	Chinese pronunciation
kaitsuburi / kaitsumuri	'grebe'	鸊鷉	'grebe'	pìtī
mozu	'shrike'	伯労	'shrike'	bóláo
misosazai / sazai	'wren'	鷦鷯	'wren'	jiāoliáo

(d) Where a compound word (two or more characters) was adopted to write a Japanese word

In some cases, a simple Japanese bird name was equivalent to a Chinese compound word of two or more characters. In this case, Japanese used the compound word as a whole to write a single Japanese word. Again the result is ungainly. In some cases more than one compound word was chosen to write the same Japanese word.

Japanese word	Meaning	Chinese compound	Chinese Reading	Literal Chinese Meaning	Notes
zuku	'(eared) owl'	木菟	mù-tù	'tree + kind of plant'	木菟 does not appear to be current in Chinese. The form 木兔 'tree rabbit' is also found.
kera	'woodpecker'	啄木鳥	zhuó-mù-niǎo	wood-pecking bird'	Also read ki-tsutsuki ('wood-pecker')
semi / kawasemi	'kingfisher'	翡翠	fěi-cuì	'kingfisher'	See below for more on 'kingfisher'.
		魚狗	yú-gǒu	'fish dog'
toki	'crested ibis'	朱鷺	zhū-lù	'red heron'	Have yet to confirm Chinese source for 桃花鳥.
		桃花鳥	táo-huā-niǎo	'plum flower bird'
mozu	'shrike'	百舌鳥	bǎi-shé-niǎo	'hundred tongue bird'	Also written 鵙.
		百舌	bǎi-shé	'hundred tongue'
isuka	'crossbill'	交喙	jiāo-huì	'cross beak'	Also written with a Japanese-made character (see below).
Fuller list of examples... (in popup window)

 

(2) WHERE NO SUITABLE WORD EXISTED

In other cases, the Chinese language seems to have lacked an identifiable equivalent to the Japanese name. In this case, there were three main options:

(a) The phonetic option: Use characters for their sound

Although this involves using characters for their sound only, given the nature of the script it was always tempting to use characters with some identifiable meaning. A strict phonetic match was therefore at times sacrificed in favour of attractive characters.

Japanese word	Meaning	Characters assigned	Meaning	Explanation
aisa	'merganser'	秋沙	'autumn sand'	Characters chosen for their attractive meanings. Mixture of kun and on readings. The first character, 'autumn', should actually be pronounced aki (kun reading), the second is either sa or sha (on reading).
-semi	'kingfisher'	蝉	'cicada'	-semi is not actually a word, being found only in kawa-semi (River kingfisher) and yama-semi (Greater pied kingfisher). The use of the character 蝉 semi 'cicada' is based on the shared sound, not on meaning.
abi	'diver / loon'	阿比	no meaning	Phonetic.
hamu	'diver / loon'	波武	'wave warrior'	Phonetic, but the characters are chosen for their meanings.
keri	'lapwing'	計里	'measure league'	Phonetic. Represents the cry of the bird.
sekka	'cisticola' & others	雪加	'snow add'	Purely phonetic.
		雪下	'snow under'
binzui	'pipit'	便追	meaning unclear	Phonetic?
ōchū	'drongo'	烏秋	'black/crow autumn'	Phonetically very approximate. The etymology is unclear.

Binzui and ōchū are of unclear origins. I've treated them as phonetic renderings, but the possibility can't be ruled out that the characters used have some basis in etymology (e.g., borrowing from Chinese, etc.)

(b) Make up a new character

This involved creating a completely new character, one that did not exist in Chinese. Such characters were known as kokuji, 'national characters' or 'indigenous characters'. In coining these new characters, of course, the Japanese followed the Chinese rules of character formation.

Japanese word	Meaning	Character created	Comments
shigi	'snipe'	鴫	The Chinese character 鷸 is also used for shigi.
aji	'Baikal teal'	䳑
nio	'grebe' (old)	鳰
toki	'crested ibis'	鵇	One of several ways of writing toki (see below).
shime / hime	'hawfinch'	鴲	鳹 exists in Chinese but not with this meaning. Obunsha claims it as a Japanese invention.
hime	'hawfinch'	鳹
ikaru	'grosbeak'	鵤	One of several ways of writing ikaru.
isuka	'red crossbill'	鶍	Also written 交喙.

(c) Take an existing Chinese character and give it a new meaning:

This involves assigning to a Japanese word a Chinese character that originally referred to a completely different bird (in some cases the identity of the original bird being quite unclear). This is in some ways the most intriguing method. Given that Chinese characters have a very pedantic tradition behind them, one can only surmise why a decision was made to take a character that already had a specific meaning, even if somewhat obscure, and apply it to a different bird. To what extent was this a conscious decision and to what extent did it arise from a lack of precise knowledge about the original referents of the characters?

Japanese word	Meaning	Character chosen	Chinese pronunciation	Original Chinese meaning	Notes
nosuri	'buzzard'	鵟	kuáng	'owl' or 'nightjar'
toki	'crested ibis'	鴇	bǎo	'bustard'	鴇 also used for the 'bustard' (no-gan). Several other ways of writing toki exist (see below).
		鴾	móu	'kind of quail'
keri	'lapwing'	鳧	fú	'wild duck'	Also used for the 'wild duck' (kamo). Keri can also be written 計里.
uso	'bullfinch'	鷽	xué	type of bird related to rollers, etc.
hiwa	members of Carduelis	鶸	ruò	'large fowl'
nue	'thrush' (type of)	鵺	yè	'type of bird'	Name refers also to a mythical monster with the head of a monkey, the body of a racoon-dog, the tail of a snake, the limbs of a tiger, and the voice of a White's thrush.
		鵼	kōng	'monster bird'
tsugumi	'thrush'	鶇	dōng	used in names of other birds.
shitodo	'bunting' (old)	鵐	wú	'quail'

The following is an example where a Chinese compound word has been given a new meaning in Japanese:

Japanese word	Meaning	Chinese compound	Chinese Reading	Literal Chinese Meaning	Notes
hibari	'lark'	雲雀	yún-què	'cloud sparrow/finch'	The 雲雀 or 'cloud finch' referred to the phoenix in Chinese.

(d) Other

Some irregular examples also exist. For instance:

Japanese Name	Type of bird	Characters	Comment
mashiko	'rose finch'	猿子	Means 'monkey child', due to the bird's red face resembling a monkey. The reading is quite unusual.

 

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2. Compound Japanese Bird Names

(a) Straightforward use of characters to write a Japanese compound word

There are a number of cases where Japanese has formed its own compound bird names. Writing such words was a simple matter of using the appropriate Chinese characters:

Japanese word	Meaning	Characters used	Meaning of characters	Comment
umi-tsubame	'sea swallow' = 'petrel'	海燕	'sea swallow'	I am assuming that this was coined by the Japanese.
umi-neko	'sea-cat' = 'Japanese gull'	海猫	'sea cat'
kake-su	'hang-nest' ='jay'	懸巣	'hang nest'	Can also be written (Japanese character).
koma-dori	'pony bird' = 'Japanese robin'	駒鳥	'pony bird'	Allegedly because the cry of the bird sounds like the neighing of a horse (?)
aka-hara	'red-belly' = 'red-billed thrush'	赤腹	'red belly'
shiro-hara	'white-belly' = 'pale thrush'	白腹	'white belly'
shiro-gashira	'white head' = 'Chinese bulbul'	白頭	'white head'
yama-dori	'mountain bird' = 'copper pheasant'	山鳥	'mountain bird'
no-gan	'field goose' = 'bustard'	野雁	'field goose'	The character 鴇, meaning 'bustard' in Chinese, is also used.
Fuller list of examples... (in popup window)

In a few cases the Japanese may have created Chinese-style bird names. Although Chinese in form, they do not appear to have come from Chinese.

Japanese word	Meaning	Chinese characters	Meaning of characters	Comment
haku-chō	'white bird' = 'swan'	白鳥	'white bird'
ren-jaku	'link sparrow/finch' = 'waxwing'	連雀	'link sparrow/finch'	The term is used in Taiwan, but may be a borrowing from Japanese.

 

(b) Where a Japanese compound word is written with a single Chinese character

In some cases, the Japanese preferred to borrow a single Chinese character for a Japanese compound word:

Japanese word	Meaning	Could be written	Actually written	Chinese meaning	Chinese pronunciation	Comment
niwa-tori	'garden fowl' = 'domestic fowl'	庭鳥	鶏	'(domestic) fowl'	jī	庭鳥 is not used.
no-gan	'field goose' = 'bustard'	野雁	鴇	'bustard'	bǎo	Both 野雁 and 鴇 are used.

 

(c) Where a single Japanese character is created to write a Japanese compound word

Above we noted that Japanese compound words were sometimes written with a single Chinese character where this existed in Chinese. In fact, the Japanese themselves have sometimes come up with individual kanji to represent compound words. An example is the locally coined character , created for the kake-su 'hang nest' or 'jay'.

 

(d) A Japanese compound word written with a Chinese compound word

An even more complex case is where a Chinese compound word is used to write a Japanese compound word. In such cases, the elements of the Chinese compound and the elements of the Japanese compound do not match. For instance, the Japanese word for 'hoopoe', yatsu-gashira, means 'eight head', a reference to the distinctive crown. Rather than writing this 'eight head', the Japanese take over the entire Chinese name 戴勝, meaning 'wear headdress'. Note how there are sometimes multiple choices.

Japanese word	Type of bird	Literal Japanese meaning	Could be written	Actually written	Chinese pronunciation	Chinese meaning	Comment
yatsu-gashira	hoopoe	'eight head'	八頭	戴勝	dài-shèng	'wear headdress'
ki-tsutsuki	woodpecker	'wood-pecker'	木啄	啄木鳥	zhuó-mù-niǎo	'wood-pecking bird'	木啄 is found in pre-modern Japanese literature
mimi-zuku	eared owl	'eared owl'	Japanese has no single character for zuku.	鴟鵂	chī-xiū	'compound word meaning owl'
				木菟	mù-tù	'tree + kind of plant'	耳木菟 ('eared tree + plant') is an alternative writing -- see below.
				角鴟	jiǎo-chī	'horned owl'
kawa-semi	Alcenid kingfisher	'river kingfisher'	Japanese has no single character for semi.	翡翠	fěi-cuì	fei = type of red-winged bird cui = type of blue-winged bird	For more on kawa-semi, see below.
				魚狗	yú-gǒu	'fish dog'
oshi-dori	Mandarin duck	'oshi bird'	Japanese has no character for oshi.	鴛鴦	yuān-yang	yuan = male duck, yang = female duck

 

(e) Where a mixture of a simple character and a Chinese compound word is used to write a Japanese compound word

In the above case (d), the meaning of the Japanese compound is totally overshadowed by the Chinese compound. Sometimes, however, the Japanese preferred to indicate the meaning of part of the compound. This meant combining a normal Japanese reading for one word and a Chinese compound for the rest. For instance, in the word mimi-zuku, 耳 is used to write mimi 'ear' and the Chinese compound 木菟 'tree rabbit' is used to write zuku.

Japanese word	Type of bird	Literal Japanese meaning	Written	Japanese element	Japanese pronunc. and meaning	Chinese compound	Chinese pronunc.	Chinese meaning	Comment
mimi-zuku	eared owl	'eared owl'	耳木菟	耳	mimi 'ear'	木菟	mù-tù	'tree + kind of plant'	木菟 by itself is also read mimi-zuku
yama-semi	Cerylid kingfisher	'mountain kingfisher'	山翡翠	山	yama 'mountain'	翡翠	fěi-cuì	fei = type of red-winged bird cui = type of blue-winged bird	翡翠 and 魚狗 by themselves are read kawa-semi (Alcenid kingfisher). 翡翠 also has other readings (see below)
			山魚狗	山	yama 'mountain'	魚狗	yú-gǒu	'fish dog'

The confusion results from a clash between two tendencies: (1) the principle ot taking over a Chinese compound word as an unanalysable unit to write a Japanese word, as in the case of (d) above, and (2) the desire to represent each unique Japanese word with a single Chinese character (耳 for mimi 'ear', 山 for yama 'mountain'). Mixing the two methods results in the confusion seen above.

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3. Japanese borrowings from Chinese

In some cases, the Japanese borrowed the names of birds directly from Chinese. The Japanese may have lacked a name for these birds or the Japanese name was superseded by the Chinese for some reason.

Characters	Japanese pronunciation	Chinese pronunciation	Meaning
鶺鴒	sekirei	jílíng	'wagtail'
鷓鴣	shako	zhègū	'francolin'
綬鶏	jukei	shòu-jī	'tragopan'
雷鳥	raichō	lěi-niǎo	'ptarmigan'
孔雀	kujaku	kǒng-què	'peafowl'
鵞鳥	ga-chō	é (Chinese omits the 鳥).	'goose'
雁	gan	yán	'wild goose'
翡翠	hisui	fěicùi	'kingfisher' (rare, mostly used for the word 'jadeite' in Japanese)
鷭	ban	fán	'coot' (but originally referred to a different kind of bird in Chinese)
伽藍鳥	garan-chō	qié-lán-niǎo	'pelican'
画眉鳥	gabi-chō	huà-méi (Chinese omits the 鳥).	'hwa mei'

 

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Complexity of the system

The application of Chinese characters often led to confusion and complexity. In some cases two, three, or even more different ways existed for writing the same bird name.

The word mozu 'shrike' could be written:

(1) with a single character: 鵙
(2) with a disyllabic Chinese word (two characters): 伯労
(3) with a compound Chinese word: either 百舌 'hundred tongue' or 百舌鳥 'hundred tongue bird'.

The word toki 'crested ibis' could be written:

(1) with the Chinese character for 'bustard': 鴇
(2) with the Chinese character for a kind of quail: 鴾
(3) with a Japanese-created character: 鵇
(4) with a Chinese compound word: either 朱鷺 or 桃花鳥.

A rather mixed-up example is that of the kingfishers. Note the different ways of writing the four words kawa-semi, yama-semi, yama-shoobin, and hisui.

Kawa-semi:

(1) Kawa-semi as a whole written with a Chinese compound: either 翡翠 or 魚狗.
(2) Kawa written with the character for 'river', semi written with the character for 'cicada', pronounced semi: 川蝉

Yama-semi:

Yama written with the character for 'mountain' 山, semi written with a Chinese compound, either 翡翠 or 魚狗 (these are also used to write kawa-semi as a whole): thus either (1) 山翡翠 or (2) 山魚狗.

Yama-shōbin:

Yama written with the character for 'mountain', shōbin written with a Chinese compound (the same as that used for kawa-semi): 山翡翠.

Hisui:

Uses the on reading of the characters: 翡翠.

Note how the characters 翡翠 may be read kawa-semi, semi, shōbin, or hisui, depending on the context!

 

With this kind of complexity, it's not surprising that Japanese scientistis decided to bypass the problems of writing in Chinese characters (kanji) altogether and use katakana to indicate plant and animal species.

Despite all the time and effort that the Japanese devoted to representing Japanese bird names in Chinese characters, it's surprising how little mark Chinese has left on Japanese bird names as a whole. Only a handful of words have been directly borrowed (see above).

For the most part, the Japanese simply continued to use their own names. The Chinese characters just made them look more 'respectable' when written down. The Japanese presumably called the 'buzzard' a nosuri before anyone ever gave a thought to writing it in characters. It continued to be called a nosuri after they decided to use the character 鵟, originally meaning 'owl' or 'nightjar', to write it. And when they decided to abandon characters and use katakana for the names of animals and plants, there was no change: the buzzard is still a ノスリ nosuri.

The language that has possibly been most changed by Japanese attempts to use Chinese characters is Chinese itself. In the modern era, the Chinese at times followed the Japanese lead in creating names of bird species. This included taking Japanese names as written in Chinese characters and using them as the Chinese names. The result was that a character like 鵟 was applied to a kind of bird that it had never originally referred to in Chinese, in this case the buzzard.

Native Japanese bird names like 海燕 umi-tsubame 'sea swallow' = 'petrel' also seem to have been borrowed into Chinese. In some cases, as in the word kashi-dori ('oak bird' = 'jay'), written 樫鳥 or 橿鳥, this meant borrowing characters like 樫 that did not even exist in Chinese!