鶴 means “crane”

つる · tsuru

Also: stork

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

つる

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

カク

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 21 strokes

The story

Two birds in one kanji, 隹 under a crest and 鳥 beside it: picture the red-crowned crane of Hokkaido's marshes. 折り鶴 strung by the thousand make 千羽鶴, a wish for recovery or peace, and 鶴の一声 is the boss's word that settles everything.

Used in 鶴 (tsuru, crane), 折り鶴 (orizuru, paper crane), and 千羽鶴 (senbazuru, string of a thousand paper cranes)

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

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