鶴

See also: 鹤

Translingual

Han character

鶴 (radical 196 鳥+10, 21 strokes, cangjie input 十土竹日火 (JGHAF), 人土竹日火 (OGHAF), four-corner 4722₇, composition ⿰隺鳥)

1. crane (bird)

References

• KangXi: page 1496, character 20
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 47185
• Dae Jaweon: page 2026, character 10
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 7, page 4654, character 3
• Unihan data for U+9DB4

---

Cantonese

Hanzi

鶴 (simplified 鹤, Yale hok6)

---

Japanese

Kanji

鶴

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

Readings

• Goon: がく (gaku) (non-Jōyō reading)
• Kan’on: かく (kaku) (non-Jōyō reading)
• Kun: つる (tsuru), たず (tazu) (non-Jōyō reading), つ (tsu) (non-Jōyō reading)
• Nanori: たず (tazu), ず (zu), か (ka), つ (tsu), づ (zu, dzu)

Etymology 1

鶴 (tazu, tsuru): the Japanese crane, Grus japonensis

鶴 (tsuru): a paper origami crane

鶴 (tsuru): a crane 家紋 (kamon, “family crest”)

Kanji in this term

鶴

たず Grade: S

kun'yomi

From Old Japanese. By one analysis, this may be a compound of 田 (ta, “rice paddy”, a common place where cranes can be found) +‎ つ (tsu, “crane? large bird?”). The tsu changes to dzu, modern zu due to rendaku (連濁). This tsu is probably the tsu in tsuru (see below).

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• IPA^(key): [ta̠zɯᵝ], [ta̠d͡zɯᵝ] (dialect)

Alternative forms

• 田鶴

Noun

鶴 (hiragana たず, historical hiragana たづ, romaji tazu)

1. (archaic, poetic) a crane: a large, long-legged and long-necked bird, member of the family or clade Gruidae
   • c. 759: Man'yōshū (book 7, poem #1199); text here

     藻苅舟 奥榜来良之 妹之嶋 形見之浦尓 鶴翔所見

     もかりふね おきこぎくらし いもがしま かたみのうらに たづかけるみゆ

     Mo kari fune / oki kogi kurashi / Imogashima / Katami no ura ni / tazu kakeru miyu

     Rowing the seaweed-gathering boat out to sea and back again, I saw the cranes soaring by Katami inlet on Imogashima

Usage notes

This reading is now reserved for poetry.

Derived terms

Derived terms

鶴が音 (たずがね, ​tazu ga ne): a crane's call, the sound made by a crane 鶴群 (たずむら, ​tazu mura): a flock or cranes

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term

鶴

つる Grade: S

kun'yomi

Given a crane's long neck and how the bird hunts, possibly related to 蔓 (tsuru, “vine”); 弦 (tsuru, “bowstring; musical instrument string”); 釣る, 吊る (tsuru, “to hang down; to string up; to fish”). Given how cranes flock together, possibly related also to 連る (tsuru), older root form of modern verb 連れる (tsureru, “to accompany”). That said, 連る also appears to ultimately derive from 蔓 (tsuru, “vine”).

Likely Altaic cognates include Proto-Turkic *durunja (“crane”) (whence Turkish turna), Korean 두루미 (durumi, “crane”), Mongolian тогоруу (togoruu, “crane”)). Compare also Hungarian daru (“crane”).

The reading tsuru is first seen used to mean a crane (the bird) from the late Heian period. Prior to that time, the only reading used for the bird was tazu. However, the kanji 鶴 was used in the Man'yōshū as a phonetic ateji for the verb ending -tsuru, suggesting that tsuru may have already existed as an everyday term meaning a crane.

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• つ​る (Atamadaka)
• IPA^(key): [t͡sɯᵝɾ̠ɯᵝ]

Noun

鶴 (hiragana つる, katakana ツル, romaji tsuru)

1. a crane: a large, long-legged and long-necked bird, member of the family or clade Gruidae
2. short for 折鶴 (​orizuru): a paper crane, the archetypical origami design
3. short for 鶴嘴 (​tsuruhashi): a pickaxe
4. a 家紋 (kamon, “family crest”) depicting a crane
5. a euphemism for white hair

Usage notes

As with many words that name organisms, this word is often written in katakana when used in biology contexts.

Derived terms

Derived terms

鶴が城 (つるがじょう, ​Tsuru ga Jō): the castle in Aizu Wakayama, Fukushima Prefecture 鶴三 (つるぞう, ​Tsuruzō): a male given name

姉羽鶴 (あねはづる, ​anehazuru): a smaller species of crane, Anthropoides virgo

Idioms

• 凍て鶴 (いてづる, ​itezuru): “frozen crane” → a metaphor for something stock still and unmoving, from the way a crane will freeze when hunting

Synonyms

• (crane crest): 鶴紋 (つるもん, ​tsuru mon)
• (white hair): 白髪 (しらが, ​shiraga)

Etymology 3

Kanji in this term

鶴

つ Grade: S

kun'yomi

Old Japanese. Only found in compounds. Uncertain derivation. May be a truncation of tsuru, or an ancient form of its own. Not used in modern Japanese.

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• IPA^(key): [t͡sɯᵝ], [d͡zɯᵝ]

Noun

鶴 (hiragana つ, romaji tsu)

1. (obsolete) a crane: a large, long-legged and long-necked bird, member of the family or clade Gruidae

Derived terms

• 鶴, 田鶴 (たず, ​tazu): a crane
• 葦田鶴 (あしたず, ​ashitazu): a crane

Usage notes

Appears as ず (zu) in compounds due to rendaku.

Etymology 4

Kanji in this term

鶴

かく Grade: S

on'yomi

From Middle Chinese 鶴 (hak). Compare modern simplified Mandarin 鹤 (hè). Only found in compounds.

Pronunciation

• On'yomi
• IPA^(key): [ka̠kɯᵝ]

Noun

鶴 (hiragana かく, romaji kaku)

1. a crane: a large, long-legged and long-necked bird, member of the family or clade Gruidae

Derived terms

Derived terms

鶴駕 (かくが, ​kakuga): the imperial prince's carriage; a mythical sage's vehicle 鶴膝 (かくしつ, ​kakushitsu): a wasting disease whereby the legs wither, resembling a cranes legs 鶴首 (かくしゅ, ​kakushu): the act of waiting impatiently in anticipation of something, waiting with bated breath 鶴寿 (かくじゅ, ​kakuju): longevity, long life 鶴氅 (かくしょう, ​kakushō): a type of robe with crane feathers woven right into the fabric 鶴髪 (かくはつ, ​kakuhatsu): pure white hair, similar to the pure white of a crane's wing 鶴髪童顔 (かくはつどうがん, ​kakuhatsu dōgan): someone with white hair but a youthful face 鶴望 (かくぼう, ​kakubō): the act of waiting impatiently in anticipation of something, waiting with bated breath 鶴翼 (かくよく, ​kakuyoku): a military formation with wings on the flanks, similar to the shape of a crane's outspread wings 鶴林 (かくりん, ​Kakurin): a forest in India where Sakyamuni died 鶴林寺 (かくりんじ, ​Kakurinji): a Buddhist temple in Hyōgo Prefecture

一鶴 (いっかく, ​ikkaku): a single crane (rare, only found in idioms) 雲鶴 (うんかく, ​unkaku): clouds and cranes; a common design pattern using clouds and cranes; a kind of Korean celadon bowl 雲中白鶴 (うんちゅうはっかく, ​unchū hakkaku): white cranes flying in the clouds; a euphemism for a person of noble character 亀鶴 (きかく, ​kikaku): a turtle and a crane, symbols of longevity 群鶴 (ぐんかく, ​gunkaku): a flock of cranes 玄鶴 (げんかく, ​genkaku): a black crane; an old crane 西鶴 (さいかく, ​Saikaku): a male given name 夜鶴 (やかく, ​yakaku): a crane in the night, particularly a crane's call

External links

• ツル on the Japanese Wikipedia.ja.Wikipedia:ツル (the bird)
• Crane (bird) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia:Crane (bird)
• 折鶴 on the Japanese Wikipedia.ja.Wikipedia:折鶴 (origami)
• Orizuru on Wikipedia.Wikipedia:Orizuru

---

Korean

Hanja

鶴 (hak) (hangeul 학, revised hak, McCune-Reischauer hak, Yale hak)

1. 두루미 (durumi) crane

---

Mandarin

Hanzi

鶴 (simplified 鹤, Pinyin hè (he4), Wade-Giles ho⁴)

---

Middle Chinese

Han character

鹤 (*hɑk)

---

Vietnamese

Han character

鶴 (hạc)