(qín): (bound form) birds, fowl, (literary) birds and animals

(qín) is a Chinese character meaning “(bound form) birds.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural) and (structural). It ranks #2460 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, a legendary beast 离 captured by a man 人. Its radical form (track) appears in many related characters such as (, to leave).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. (bound form) birds
  2. fowl
  3. (literary) birds and animals

Etymology & Origin

ideographicA legendary beast 离 captured by a man 人

Decomposition: ⿱人离 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

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

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
qín shòubirds and animals
měng qínbird of prey
jiā qínpoultry
qín liú gǎnbird flu
qín lèibird species
fēi qínbirds
fēi qín zǒu shòu(idiom) birds and animals
shuǐ qínwaterfowl
qín dànbird eggs
qín niǎobirds
míng qínsongbird
qín shòu bù rúworse than a beast
bǔ qín rénbirdcatcher
liáng qín zé mùa fine bird chooses a tree to nest in (proverb)
liáng qín zé mù ér qīa fine bird chooses a tree to nest in (proverb)
24
Total compounds
33
As first character
42
As last character
25
As middle character

appears in 24 compound words: 33 as the first character, 42 as the last, and 25 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.

chù
0.6243,924 co-occurrences
měng
0.6206,183 co-occurrences
shòu
0.5311,854 co-occurrences
0.472372 co-occurrences
gǎn
0.4434,782 co-occurrences
ròu
0.4291,530 co-occurrences
yǎng
0.4131,068 co-occurrences
niǎo
0.408648 co-occurrences
míng
0.407348 co-occurrences
liú
0.3974,281 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (5)

fēiqínzǒushòuHSK 7+

the birds and the beasts

phrase
liángqínzémùHSK 7+

synonym of 良禽擇木而棲 /良禽择木而栖 (liángqín zé mù ér qī)

phrase
qínshòubùrúHSK 7+

worse than a beast

phrase
yīguānqínshòuHSK 7+

beast in human attire; gentleman in appearance but a beast in conduct; immoral or despicable person

phrase
zhēn qín qí shòuHSK 7+

rare animals and birds

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

老师教我们字的发音和笔顺。

lǎo shī jiào wǒ men qín zì de fā yīn hé bǐ shùn .

The teacher taught us the pronunciation and stroke order of the character "禽."

UdnnewsindexApr 2026

独/猛游隼飞失1周跨42公里神奇返家瘦一半!专...

dú měng qín yóu 隼 fēi shī 1 zhōu kuà 4 2 gōng lǐ shén qí fǎn jiā shòu yī bàn ! zhuān . . .

UdnnewsindexApr 2026

首例传人“H7N7流感病毒” 疾管署:未发展...

shǒu lì qín chuán rén H 7 N 7 liú gǎn bìng dú jí guǎn shǔ : wèi fā zhǎn . . .

SmzdmMar 2026

戏 vs 八段锦:别瞎练!你是“猛虎”还...

wǔ qín xì v s bā duàn jǐn : bié xiā liàn ! nǐ shì měng hǔ hái . . .

Five Animal Exercises vs. Eight Brocades: Don’t Just Practice Blindly! Are You a “Fierce Tiger” or...

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

源流感如何传人?浙大团队揭示病毒跨物种传...

qín yuán liú gǎn rú hé chuán rén ? zhè dà tuán duì jiē shì bìng dú kuà wù zhǒng chuán . . .

How is avian influenza transmitted to humans? The Zhejiang University team revealed that the virus spreads across species...

TechnewsFeb 2026

F-22 终极形态,洛马首度公开“猛 2.0”概念模型

F 2 2 zhōng jí xíng tài , 洛 mǎ shǒu dù gōng kāi měng qín 2 . 0 gài niàn mó xíng

The ultimate form of the F-22, Loma unveiled the "Raptor 2.0" concept model for the first time

Tatoeba

择木而栖,贤臣择主而事。

Liángqínzémù'érqī, xián chén zé zhǔ ér shì.

A prudent bird chooses its tree. A wise servant chooses his master.

Tatoeba

苍鹭是一种涉

Cānglù shì yīzhǒng shè qín.

The heron is a wading bird.

Character Family

Radical Family — Characters sharing the track radical

Related Characters

Homophones — Characters pronounced qín

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 禽 (qín) mean in Chinese?
禽 (qín) primarily means "(bound form) birds." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2460 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 禽 have?
禽 is written with 13 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 禽?
The radical associated with 禽 is 禸 (track). This radical appears in many characters related to track.
What are the components of 禽?
禽 is composed of: 人 (structural), 离 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱人离 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 禽?
Common words with 禽 include: 禽兽 (qín shòu, "birds and animals"); 猛禽 (měng qín, "bird of prey"); 家禽 (jiā qín, "poultry"); 禽流感 (qín liú gǎn, "bird flu"); 禽类 (qín lèi, "bird species"). There are over 24 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 禽 (qín)?
Several characters share the pronunciation qín: 亲 (parent), 侵 (to invade), 钦 (to respect), 秦 (Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) of the first emperor 秦始皇), and 3 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 禽 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 禽 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

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.