In Mandarin Chinese, 鸡 (Pinyin: jī 🔊) is a noun for “chicken” and domestic fowl in general. To be more specific, Chinese uses compounds, for example:
The Rooster is one of the twelve-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac and is associated with the earthly branch 酉. The other meanings of 鸡 include “prostitute” and “penis” (why I am not surprised?).
鸡 is a simplified form of the traditional character 雞 which is a phono-semantic compound of phonetic 奚 (xī) and semantic 隹 “short-tailed bird”. Historical forms of this latter character show great diversity, depicting birds with assorted tails and in a variety of positions.
More photos related to chickens, zodiac and sea glass @ Shutterstock.
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