候鳥

简 候鸟 · 繁 候鳥
Mandarin · pinyin hòu niǎo

Meanings

  1. migratory bird
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Characters in this entry

候
hòu · wait; expect; visit; greet
鳥
niǎo · bird; Kangxi radical 196
鸟
niǎo · bird; Kangxi radical 196
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4–3 · hou4 niao3

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

候鳥 · find source passages ↗ · 候鸟 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 2 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

hau6 niu5

Cantonese word readings for 候鳥. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

noun

  1. migratory bird
  2. snowbird (person who travels seasonally)

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack