鹤 (hè): crane

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

Etymologically derived, 鹤 bird. Its radical form 鸟 (bird) appears in many related characters such as 鸡 (jī, chicken), 鸟 (niǎo, bird), 鸭 (yā, duck).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. crane

Etymology & Origin

鹤

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
鹤立鸡群phrasehè lì jī qúna crane in a flock of chicken (idiom)
白鹤nounbái hè(bird species of China) Siberian crane (Leucogeranus leucogeranus)
仙鹤nounxiān hèred-crowned crane (Grus japonensis)
纸鹤nounzhǐ hèpaper crane
风声鹤唳phrasefēng shēng hè lìlit. wind sighing and crane calling (idiom)
丹顶鹤noundān dǐng hè(bird species of China) red-crowned crane (Grus japonensis)
灰鹤huī hè(bird species of China) common crane (Grus grus)
白头鹤bái tóu hè(bird species of China) hooded crane (Grus monacha)
驾鹤西去phrasejià hè xī qùlit. to fly on a crane to the Western Paradise
一琴一鹤yī qín yī hècarrying very little luggage (idiom)
鹤山区hè shān qūHeshan, a district of Hebi City 鶴壁市|鹤壁市, Henan
鹤山市hè shān shìHeshan, a county-level city in Jiangmen City 江門市|江门市, Guangdong
鹤城区hè chéng qūHecheng, a district of Huaihua City 懷化市|怀化市, Hunan
火鹤花huǒ hè huāflamingo lily (Anthurium andraeanum)
天鹤座proper-nountiān hè zuòGrus (constellation)
54
Total compounds
33
As first character
39
As last character
28
As middle character

鹤 appears in 54 compound words: 33 as the first character, 39 as the last, and 28 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 鹤 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

鸣míng
0.528702 co-occurrences
岗gǎng
0.512814 co-occurrences
折zhé
0.50510 co-occurrences
龄líng
0.491718 co-occurrences
颈jǐng
0.454196 co-occurrences
壁bì
0.441686 co-occurrences
洞dòng
0.435774 co-occurrences
缤bīn
0.42020 co-occurrences
白bái
0.4132,020 co-occurrences
黄huáng
0.409884 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (9)

焚琴煮鹤fén qín zhǔ hèHSK 7+

vulgar, tasteless behaviors that spoil elegant or beautiful things

phrase
鹤立鸡群hèlìjīqúnHSK 7+

an outstanding person in a group of common people

phrase
驾鹤西归jià hè xī guīHSK 7+

see 駕鶴西去|驾鹤西去

phrase
驾鹤西去jiàhèxīqùHSK 7+

to pass away

phrase
驾鹤西游jiàhèxīyóuHSK 7+

to pass away

phrase
闲云野鹤xiányúnyěhèHSK 7+

free spirit

phrase
一琴一鹤yī qín yī hèHSK 7+

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

phrase
风声鹤唳fēngshēnghèlìHSK 7+

to panic and feel apprehensive for even the slightest peril nearby

phrase
杳如黄鹤yǎo rú huáng hèHSK 7+

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

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

仙鹤是长寿的象征,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种鹤类齐聚密云,东方白鹳、白枕鹤数量创近十年...

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

河南省鹤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

火鹤花田改种洋香瓜 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”、“鹤茶楼”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后潜水员与千年白鹤梁的水下之约

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, 这只鹤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

教我怎么折纸鹤吧。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鹤并期盼奇迹。

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鹤, 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

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 鸟 (bird) component

鸟 Radical Family — Characters sharing the bird radical

Homophones — Characters pronounced hè

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 54 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 鹤 (hè)?
Several characters share the pronunciation hè: 和 (and, peace), 合 (to close), 何 (what, how), 河 (river), 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 鹤 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken 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.