Simple Japanese Bird Names
Examples of the straightforward adoption of Chinese characters (kanji)
| Japanese word | Meaning | Chinese character chosen | Chinese meaning | Chinese pronunciation | Comments |
| kiji | 'pheasant' | 雉 |
'pheasant' | zhì | |
| uzura | 'quail' | 鶉 |
'quail' | chún | chún (now more often used in the compound ān-chun 'quail') |
| ahiru | 'domestic duck' | 鶩 |
'domestic duck' (formal) | wù | Also written 家鴨. |
| 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 | |
| misago | 'osprey' | 鶚 |
'osprey' | è | |
| taka | 'hawk' | 鷹 |
'hawk' | yīng | |
| tobi | 'kite' | 鳶 |
'kite' | yuān | |
| haitaka | 'sparrow hawk' | 鷂 |
'sparrow hawk' (originally) | yào | |
| hayabusa | 'falcon' | 隼 |
'falcon' | sǔn, zhǔn | |
| u | 'cormorant' | 鵜 |
'cormorant' (originally) | tí | Chinese now uses different characters for the cormorant. |
| sagi | 'heron' | 鷺 |
'heron' | lù | |
| mozu | 'shrike' | 鵙 |
'shrike' (old) | jú | Several ways exist to write mozu (see below). |
| kasasagi | 'magpie' | 鵲 |
'magpie' | què | |
| uguisu | 'warbler' | 鶯 (鴬) |
'warbler' | yīng | |
| tsubame | 'swallow' | 燕 |
'swallow' | yàn | Also represents the variants tsubakuro and tsubakura. |
| hiyo(dori) | 'bulbul' | 鵯 |
'bulbul' | bēi | |
| suzume | 'sparrow' | 雀 |
'sparrow' | què | In Chinese, now usually called má-què. |
