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羽: feather

By February 27, 2017January 28th, 2021Chinese Word, Japanese Word, Language-Learning

 

羽 yǔ

radical
: feather; plume; wings
: 5th note in pentatonic scale

Kun Reading

羽 | わ wa OR ば ba OR ぱ pa

counter
: counter for birds and rabbits

羽 | は ha

羽 | はね hane

noun
: feather; plume; wing
: blade (fan, propeller, etc.)

On Reading

羽 | う u


: fifth degree (of the Japanese & Chinese pentatonic scale)

 Usage:

羽毛 yu3mao2: feather; plumage; plume [うもう umou: feathers; plumage; down]

羽毛球 yu3mao2 qiu2: shuttlecock; badminton
[羽子 | はご hago: shuttlecock] [羽子突 | はねつき hanetsuki: Japanese badminton; battledore and shuttlecock]

羽絨服 [羽绒服] yu3rong2 fu2: down-filled garment
羽冠 yu3guan1: feathered crest (of bird) [うかん ukan: bird’s crest]
羽化 yu3hua4: levitation (of Daoist immortal); to become as light as a feather and ascend to heaven; (in Daoism) to become immortal; to die; of winged insects, to emerge from the cocoon in adult form; eclosion [うか uka: emergence (of insects); growing wings and flying]
尾羽 wei3yu3: tail feathers [おは oha: tail and wings; tail feathers]
換[换]羽 huan4yu3: to molt; to change feathers [換羽 | かんう kanu: molting]
脫[脱]羽 tuo1yu3: to shed feathers; to molt (of birds)



Famous Personality

關[关]羽 guan1yu3: Guan Yu (-220 CE)

(courtesy name Yunchang) was a general of Shu and blood-brother of warlord Liu Bei in the late Eastern Han dynasty (made famous by the novel “Romance of the Three Kingdoms.” He is a fearsome fighter epitomized for virtue, righteousness and loyalty; posthumously worshiped and identified with the guardian Bodhisattva Sangharama (關帝 Guan1di or 關公 Guan1 gong1)
wikipedia



Japanese common word | expression | yojijukugo 四字熟語 | idiom
羽織 | はおり haori: Haori (Japanese formal coat)
羽織紐 | はおりひも haroi himo: string tied across the open chest of a haori

手羽 | てば teba: chicken wing

羽化登仙 | うかとうせん uka tousen
: (yoji) a sense of release (as if one had wings and were riding on air)

濡れ羽色 | ぬればいろ nure bairo
: jet black

羽を伸ばす | はねをのばす hane o nobasu
: to let your hair down; to have fun after a period of work or stress

切羽詰まる | せっぱつまる seppatsumaru
: to be at one’s wits’ end; to be cornered; to be packed to the hilt

鴉の濡れ羽色 | からすのぬればいろ karasu no nure bairo
: glossy black (hair); color of a crow with wet feathers



Chinese common word | chengyu 成語 | expression | idiom
威鳳一羽 [威凤一羽] wei1 feng4 yi1 yu3
: lit. one phoenix feather; fig. a glimpse that reveals the whole

鎩羽而歸 [铩羽而归] sha1 yu3 er2 gui1
: to return in low spirits following a defeat or failure to achieve one’s ambitions

 Etymology:
象形 Pictographic.
Picture of two feathers.



historical variant:
: 羽



“Feather” radical #124



 Examples:

我小時候很喜歡打羽毛球。
wo3 xiao3 shi3hou4 hen xi3huan1 da2 yu3mao2qiu2
When I was young, I loved playing badminton.

Resources: Chinese Dictionary | Japanese Dictionary