鸾翔凤翥
luán​xiáng​fèng​zhù

elegant calligraphy

鸾 luán fabulous bird Simplified

Components

亦
亦 Meaning component
yì also

bird

鸟
鸟 Sound component
niǎo bird

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

翔 xiáng soar

Phonosemantic compound. 羽 represents the meaning and 羊 represents the sound.

Components

羽
羽 Meaning component
yǔ feather
羊
羊 Sound component
yáng sheep

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartzjangs.[ɢ]aŋfly back and forth; soar
Zhengzhangljaŋ
Unicodeziɑng

說文解字

回飛也。从羽羊聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

凤 fèng male phoenix Simplified

Simplified form of 鳳. Phonosemantic compound. 鳥 represents the meaning and 凡 represents the sound. Originally a pictograph of a mythical Chinese bird, similar to a phoenix. Later the phonetic component 凡 was added.

Components

又
又 Simplified component
yòu again

Shorthand for the 鳥 component in the traditional character 鳳.

凡
凡 Sound component
fán all

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

翥 zhù to soar

Components

者
者 Sound component
zhě one who...
羽
羽 Meaning component
yǔ feather

wings

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangtjas
Unicodejiù

說文解字

飛舉也。从羽者聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

鸞 fabulous bird Traditional

Components

䜌
䜌 Meaning component
luán tie together

bird

鳥
鳥 Sound component
niǎo bird

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartlwan[r]ˤonphoenix
Zhengzhangb·roːn
Unicodeluɑn

說文解字

亦神靈之精也。赤色，五采，雞形。鳴中五音，頌聲作則至。从鳥䜌聲。周成王時氐羌獻鸞鳥。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

鳳 fèng male phoenix Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 鳥 represents the meaning and 凡 represents the sound. Originally a pictograph of a mythical Chinese bird, similar to a phoenix. Later the phonetic component 凡 was added.

Components

鳥
鳥 Meaning component
niǎo bird
凡
凡 Sound component
fán all

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Remnant (1)

風

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangbums
Unicodebhiùng

說文解字

《說文》：“鳳，神鳥也。天老曰：鳳之象也，鴻前麐後，蛇頸魚尾，鸛顙鴛思，龍文虎背，燕頷雞喙，五色備舉。出於東方君子之國，翺翔四海之外，過崐崘，飲砥柱，濯羽弱水，莫宿風穴，見則天下大安寧。从鳥，凡聲。，古文鳳，象形。鳳飛羣鳥從以萬數，故以為朋黨字。，亦古文鳳。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)