Definitions

wēng flycatcher (bird)

Etymology

About

The character 鹟 is a phono-semantic compound. Its simplified semantic radical 鸟 (niǎo) indicates the bird category, while the phonetic component 翁 (wēng) provides the pronunciation. The traditional form, 鶲, uses the radical 鳥 with the same phonetic element. The character specifically denotes the flycatcher, a small passerine insectivorous bird in the Muscicapidae family. This structure, pairing a semantic category with a sound component, is typical for avian names in Chinese. The term is used precisely in ornithological classification for this bird group, maintaining a strict scientific meaning without developing secondary literary senses.