(): crane

() is a Chinese character meaning “crane.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (phonetic) and (semantic). It ranks #2506 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, bird. Its radical form (bird) appears in many related characters such as (, chicken), (niǎo, bird), (, duck).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. crane

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticbird

Decomposition: ⿰隺鸟 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15

Practice writing with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
hè lì jī qúna crane in a flock of chicken (idiom)
bái hè(bird species of China) Siberian crane (Leucogeranus leucogeranus)
xiān hèred-crowned crane (Grus japonensis)
zhǐ hèpaper crane
fēng shēng hè lìlit. wind sighing and crane calling (idiom)
dān dǐng hè(bird species of China) red-crowned crane (Grus japonensis)
huī hè(bird species of China) common crane (Grus grus)
bái tóu hè(bird species of China) hooded crane (Grus monacha)
西jià hè xī qùlit. to fly on a crane to the Western Paradise
yī qín yī hècarrying very little luggage (idiom)
hè shān qūHeshan, a district of Hebi City 鶴壁市|鹤壁市[He4 bi4 Shi4], Henan
hè shān shìHeshan, a county-level city in Jiangmen City 江門市|江门市[Jiang1 men2 Shi4], Guangdong
hè chéng qūHecheng, a district of Huaihua City 懷化市|怀化市[Huai2 hua4 Shi4], Hunan
huǒ hè huāflamingo lily (Anthurium andraeanum)
tiān hè zuòGrus (constellation)
55
Total compounds
33
As first character
38
As last character
29
As middle character

appears in 55 compound words: 33 as the first character, 38 as the last, and 29 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

míng
0.5362,106 co-occurrences
gǎng
0.5202,442 co-occurrences
líng
0.4982,154 co-occurrences
jǐng
0.461588 co-occurrences
0.4472,058 co-occurrences
dòng
0.4412,322 co-occurrences
bīn
0.42660 co-occurrences
bái
0.4196,060 co-occurrences
huáng
0.4152,652 co-occurrences
yún
0.4142,322 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (9)

fén qín zhǔ hèHSK 7+

vulgar, tasteless behaviors that spoil elegant or beautiful things

phrase
hèlìjīqúnHSK 7+

an outstanding person in a group of common people

phrase
西jià hè xī guīHSK 7+

see 駕鶴西去|驾鹤西去[jia4 he4 xi1 qu4]

phrase
西jiàhèxīqùHSK 7+

to pass away

phrase
西jiàhèxīyóuHSK 7+

to pass away

phrase
xiányúnyěhèHSK 7+

free spirit

phrase
yī qín yī hèHSK 7+

carrying very little luggage (idiom); honest and incorruptible (government officials)

phrase
fēngshēnghèlìHSK 7+

to panic and feel apprehensive for even the slightest sound

phrase
yǎo rú huáng hèHSK 7+

to be gone forever (idiom); to disappear without a trace

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

是长寿的象征,常出现在中国画中。

Xiānhè shì chángshòu de xiàngzhēng, cháng chūxiàn zài Zhōngguó huà zhōng.

Cranes are symbols of longevity and often appear in Chinese paintings.

The Beijing NewsMar 2026

7种类齐聚密云,东方白鹳、白枕数量创近十年...

7 zhǒng hè lèi qí jù mì yún , dōng fāng bái 鹳 , bái zhěn hè shǔ liàng chuàng jìn shí nián . . .

Seven species of cranes have gathered in Miyun, with the numbers of Oriental white storks and white-naped cranes reaching a decade-high...

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

河南省壁市政府原常务副市长林鸿嘉被“双开”

hé nán shěng hè bì shì zhèng fǔ yuán cháng wù fù shì cháng lín 鸿 jiā bèi shuāng kāi

Lin Hongjia, former executive vice mayor of Hebi Municipal Government in Henan Province, was "double-opened"

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

花田改种洋香瓜 父亲鼓励8年级生姊妹“不...

huǒ hè huā tián gǎi zhǒng yáng xiāng guā fù qīn gǔ lì 8 nián jí shēng 姊 mèi bù . . .

The father encouraged the 8th graders to "no...

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

...气手摇! 8折爽喝“大苑子草莓系列”、“茶楼”新品尝蜜桃果肉、“青山”请客每人一...

. . . qì shǒu yáo ! 8 zhé shuǎng hē dà 苑 zǐ cǎo 莓 xì liè , hè chá lóu xīn pǐn cháng mì táo guǒ ròu , qīng shān qǐng kè měi rén yī . . .

... Angry hand shaking! 80% off drinking "Dayuanzi Strawberry Series", "Crane Tea House" new tasting of peach pulp, "Qingshan" treat each person...

百度新闻Feb 2026

新春走基层丨95后潜水员与千年白梁的水下之约

xīn chūn zǒu jī céng 丨 hòu qián shuǐ yuán yú qiān nián bái hè liáng de shuǐ xià zhī yāo

New Year walk grassroots 丨 95 divers and the Millennium White Crane Liang underwater appointment

Tatoeba

不像狗, 这只从来没有梦想过飞翔。

Bù xiàng gǒu, zhè zhī hè cóngláiméiyǒu mèngxiǎng guo fēixiáng.

The crane, unlike the dog, has never dreamed of flying.

Tatoeba

教我怎么折纸吧。我忘记怎么折了。

Jiāo wǒ zěnme zhézhǐ hè ba. wǒ wàngjì zěnme zhé le.

Teach me how to fold a paper crane. I forgot how to fold it.

Tatoeba

今祯子当时能做的就是折纸并期盼奇迹。

Jīn zhēn zǐ dāngshí néng zuò de jiùshì zhézhǐ hè bìng qīpàn qíjì.

All Sadako could do now was to make paper cranes and hope for a miracle.

Tatoeba

如果一个病人折一千只纸, 她的愿望就会成真。

Rúguǒ yī gè bìngrén zhé yī qiān zhī zhǐhè, tā de yuànwàng jiù huì chéngzhēn.

If a sick person folds one thousand paper cranes, her wish will come true.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 鹤 (hè) mean in Chinese?
鹤 (hè) primarily means "crane." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2506 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 鹤 have?
鹤 is written with 15 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 鹤?
The radical associated with 鹤 is 鸟 (bird). This radical appears in many characters related to bird.
What are the components of 鹤?
鹤 is composed of: 隺 (phonetic), 鸟 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰隺鸟 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 鹤?
Common words with 鹤 include: 鹤立鸡群 (hè lì jī qún, "a crane in a flock of chicken (idiom)"); 白鹤 (bái hè, "(bird species of China) Siberian crane (Leucogeranus leucogeranus)"); 仙鹤 (xiān hè, "red-crowned crane (Grus japonensis)"); 纸鹤 (zhǐ hè, "paper crane"); 风声鹤唳 (fēng shēng hè lì, "lit. wind sighing and crane calling (idiom)"). There are over 55 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 鹤 (hè)?
Several characters share the pronunciation hè: 喝 (to drink), 禾 ((bound form) grain plant), 何 (what, how), 和 (and, peace), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 鹤 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 鹤 and the traditional form is 鶴.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.