Translingual

Han character

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

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

Chinese

Glyph origin

Phono-semantic compound (形聲, OC *ɡloːwɢ) : phonetic 隺 + semantic 鳥.

Pronunciation

Definitions

鶴

1. crane (bird)
2. white
3. A surname​.

Compounds

Japanese

Kanji

(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)

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”)

From Old Japanese.^[1][2] 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 as an instance of 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, romaji tazu, historical hiragana たづ)

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.^[1][2]

Derived terms

Etymology 2

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.^[1]

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• (Tokyo) つ​る [tsúꜜrù] (Atamadaka - [1])^[2][3]
• 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. (euphemistic) 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

Idioms

• 凍 (い)て鶴 (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

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 (たず) ‎(tazu), 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

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

References

1. 1 2 3 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
2. 1 2 3 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13905-9
3. ↑ 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, ISBN 978-4-14-011112-3

Korean

Hanja

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

1. 두루미 (durumi) crane

Vietnamese

Han character

鶴 (hạc)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.