隹

According to the Shuowen Jiezi dictionary, it is a pictograph representing a short-tailed bird viewed from the side. However, ancient script forms (oracle bone to bronze inscriptions) do not clearly confirm that it referred only to short-tailed birds.

In the early 20th century, renowned Chinese epigrapher Luo Zhenyu (羅振玉) claimed, based on oracle bone rubbings, that 隹 and 鳥 were often used interchangeably, and were in fact the same character. Most modern scholars agree with this theory, though some still argue that 隹 refers to birds in general, while 鳥 is a pictograph of a specific bird species.

隹 is also the original character of 唯 ("only, merely"), and in this context, it carried the meaning "to be" (similar to modern Mandarin A是B).

In many characters that appear to use 隹 as a phonetic component, it is actually 唯 acting as the phonetic part.

When used as a radical, 隹 typically indicates that the character relates to birds.

Examples where it is part of the phonetic component:

推 ("to push")

誰 ("who")

Examples where it is the semantic radical:

離 ("to separate")

雀 ("sparrow")

雙 ("pair")

難 ("difficult")

隼 ("hawk")

雜 ("mixed")

集 ("to gather")

雄 ("male animal")

According to the Liùshū Xún Yuán (六書尋源), since 隹 depicts a short-tailed bird, it emphasizes the head. This explains its use in characters like 進 ("to advance") and 推 ("to push"), which metaphorically relate to leading or moving forward.

隹 is easily confused with:

佳 ("beautiful"): formed from 亻 (person radical) and 圭, which itself is two 土 (earth) components stacked. Its horizontal strokes alternate slightly in length, and the stroke order is 亻 → 土 → 土.

住 ("to reside"): composed of 亻 and 主 (lord), with stroke order 亻 → 主.

In contrast:

隹 has a compressed shape that attaches tightly to the 亻 radical when used on the right side of a character.

Its horizontal strokes (4 total) are arranged with the top and bottom lines slightly longer than the middle two.

The stroke order is 亻 → 丿 → 三 → 丨 → 一.

佳 is under the 人 radical (6 strokes), while 隹 is a radical by itself.