Chinese symbol for “cuckoo”
杜鹃
dù juān
Traditional: 杜鵑
cuckoo (Cercococcyx spp., also written 杜鵑鳥|杜鹃鸟); Indian azalea (Rhododendron simsii Planch, also written 杜鵑花|杜鹃花)
The closest CC-CEDICT match for cuckoo is 杜鹃 (dù juān), defined as: cuckoo (Cercococcyx spp., also written 杜鵑鳥|杜鹃鸟); Indian azalea (Rhododendron simsii Planch, also written 杜鵑花|杜鹃花).
Before using these characters for a tattoo, check them with a native speaker. Dictionary words often have several meanings, and the right choice depends on context.
Characters and stroke order
Traditional forms
Other Chinese words for “cuckoo”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 鹃 (鵑) | juān | cuckoo |
| 布谷鸟 (布谷鳥) | bù gǔ niǎo | cuckoo (Cercococcyx spp.); same as 杜鹃鸟 (dù juān niǎo) |
| 布谷 (布穀) | bù gǔ | cuckoo |
| 杜宇 | dù yǔ | cuckoo; same as 杜鵑鳥|杜鹃鸟 |
| 巂 | guī | cuckoo; revolution of a wheel |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 杜鹃.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 杜绝 (杜絕) | dù jué | to put an end to |
| 杜撰 | dù zhuàn | to fabricate; to make sth up |
| 杜鹃花 (杜鵑花) | dù juān huā | Indian Azalea (Rhododendron simsii Planch) |
| 杜仲 | dù zhòng | eucommia (a kind of rubber tree) |
| 杜塞 | dù sè | to stop; to block |
| 杜鹃鸟 (杜鵑鳥) | dù juān niǎo | cuckoo (Cercococcyx spp.) |
| 噪鹃 (噪鵑) | zào juān | (bird species of China) Asian koel (Eudynamys scolopaceus) |
| 八声杜鹃 (八聲杜鵑) | bā shēng dù juān | (bird species of China) plaintive cuckoo (Cacomantis merulinus) |
See also: Japanese symbol for “cuckoo”.
Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3); Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License (graphics.txt); LGPL-3.0-or-later (dictionary.txt)); wordfreq (CC BY-SA 4.0 (data)). Retrieved 2026-10-22.