DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

風聲鶴唳

简风声鹤唳 · 繁風聲鶴唳

Mandarin · pinyin fēng shēng hè lì

lit. wind sighing and crane calling (idiom)
fig. to panic at the slightest move
to be jittery

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

風: fēng · wind; air; manners, atmosphere; Kangxi radical 182
聲: shēng · sound, voice, noise; tone; music
鶴: Look up this written character
唳: lì · cry of bird; cry
风: fēng · wind; air; manners, atmosphere
声: shēng · sound, voice, noise; tone; music
鹤: hè · crane; Grus species (various)

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

1–1–4–4 · feng1 sheng1 he4 li4

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

6character links

Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗

Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

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.

風聲鶴唳 · find source passages ↗ · 风声鹤唳 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

fung1 sing1 hok6 leoi6

Cantonese word readings for 風聲鶴唳. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

phrase

(idiomatic) to panic and feel apprehensive for even the slightest peril nearby

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

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