鵎鵼 /𱉻𱊊
tuǒkōng
The English word toucan is translated into Chinese as 鵎鵼 /𱉻𱊊 (tuǒkōng), 大嘴鳥 / 大嘴鸟 or 巨嘴鳥 / 巨嘴鸟.
Meaning: Ramphastid (noun)
Ways to say it
| Chinese | Romanization (Wiktionary) |
|---|---|
| 鵎鵼 /𱉻𱊊 | tuǒkōng |
| 大嘴鳥 / 大嘴鸟 | dàzuǐniǎo |
| 巨嘴鳥 / 巨嘴鸟 | jùzuǐniǎo |
What does it mean word for word?
The term 大嘴鳥 / 大嘴鸟 is a descriptive compound consisting of 大 (big), 嘴 (mouth) and 鳥 (bird). The term 巨嘴鳥 / 巨嘴鸟 is a descriptive compound consisting of 巨 (giant/huge), 嘴 (mouth) and 鳥 (bird).
Which one should you use?
大嘴鳥 / 大嘴鸟 is a more common, colloquial way to refer to the bird, whereas 巨嘴鳥 / 巨嘴鸟 sounds more formal or scientific.
How do you pronounce it?
tuǒkōng
Did you know?
- The characters for 鵎鵼 are so rare that they are not included in most standard digital fonts and require special Unicode extensions to display.
- In some contexts, calling something a 大嘴 (big mouth) can be a direct insult to someone's character, implying they cannot keep a secret.
- The phonetic transcription 鵎鵼 is an attempt to replicate the English sound of 'toucan' using archaic Chinese characters. This makes it a transliteration rather than a translation of the bird's meaning.
Example sentences for Chinese are not verified yet.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “toucan” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries 鵎鵼, CC BY-SA 4.0.
