鶏 means “chicken, hen”

にわとり · niwatori

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

にわとり, とり

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

ケイ

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 19 strokes

The story

A bird (鳥) beside a hand (⺤) reaching down over a figure (夫): picture a bird kept close at hand. 鶏 is the farmyard chicken, にわとり, the yard (庭) bird (鳥), though at the butcher 鶏肉 is read とりにく.

Used in 鶏 (niwatori, chicken), 鶏肉 (toriniku, chicken meat), and 養鶏 (youkei, poultry farming)

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Learn 鶏 and more kanji free on Fuji Learning · All kanji

Readings from KANJIDIC2, © EDRDG, CC BY-SA.