TSUMUGU · TOCFL 1 (est.) · 字
鳥
ㄋㄧㄠˇ · niǎo
noun — bird
字源 FORM — what the parts do
鳥形a long-tailed bird in profile — head, body, the tail trailing, clawed foot below
The whole graph is one bird seen side-on: the head at the top, the body, the long tail trailing down, the clawed foot (匕-shaped) at the base. A pictograph — nothing to take apart. The long tail tells it from 隹, the short-tailed birds; lose the eye-dot and it becomes 烏, the crow so black its eye vanishes.
故事 STORY — a scene to remember it by
一隻鳥（鳥）站著，頭朝上，長尾垂下，爪子抓地。
A bird (鳥) stands: head up, long tail down, claws gripping the ground.
字源記憶法
意 · Meanings
(本義)長尾禽、鳥— a long-tailed bird; bird常用
→小鳥、鳥兒— small bird, birdie
(本義) original meaning · → ⇒ each arrow = one more step of extension
關 · Related
烏wūthe lookalike — 烏 is with the eye-dot gone (a crow, too black to show its eye); keeps the eye隹zhuīthe short-tailed twin — same bird sense, but 隹 wears a stub tail where trails a long one