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人為財死鳥為食亡 is a Chinese proverb that literally states that human beings will die for riches, just as birds will for food.
Figuratively it means that man will do anything in his means to become rich. Personally, I think dying for food is a more noble cause.
Often translated as “Men die in pursuit of wealth, birds die in pursuit of food. The 人 in this proverb just means human, so “men” is a placeholder for human with that translation - an English language problem that we have no easy gender-neutral nouns.
This proverb is meant to serve as a warning about the follies of greed.
鷹 is the way to write eagle, falcon, or hawk in Chinese.
It means hawk or falcon in Japanese Kanji, and simply “eagle” in old Korean Hanja. Though we have different words for them in English, eagles, falcons, and hawks are all seen as the same general type of bird in Asian languages.
If you are looking for the Dutch surname Valk, or the German surname Falco by meaning, this would be a good character for you.
There are other multi-character words (most of them contain this character) which express different specific species of birds of prey (bald eagle, osprey, golden eagle, etc). If you need a more specific title, just contact me.
燕 is the single character for the swallow (bird).
If you are a zoologist, this can refer to birds of the family Hirundinidae. Sometimes used to refer to Hirundo rustica (the barn swallow).
燕 is also a surname in China that is romanized as Yan. In fact, there were also several different Yan kingdoms in the ancient history of China (which is the origin of the surname).
鷲 is the way to write black eagle or condor in Chinese.
It means eagle (sometimes vulture) in Japanese Kanji. 鷲 hasn't been in common use in Korean for hundreds of years, so it's hard to say what bird it represented in old Korean Hanja.
There are other multi-character words that express different specific species of birds of prey (bald eagle, osprey, golden eagle, etc).
If you need a more specific title, just contact me.
天狗 is the Japanese title for Tengu, which roughly translates as “heavenly dog.”
Tengu is a type of legendary creature found in Japanese folk religion and is also considered a type of Shinto god (kami) or yōkai (supernatural being).
The origin is Chinese, though this term is seldom used in Chinese anymore. It was a dog-like Chinese demon (Tiangou)
Although the title contains the word “dog,” the tengu are often depicted with human and bird-like characteristics. Sometimes they have large noses or beaks like birds.
沈魚落雁 is an old proverb that literally means “fish sink, goose alights.”
...But this takes some explaining. This is a proverb from Zhuangzi (莊子), who lived in the late 4th century BC.
This figuratively refers to female beauty that is so captivating that even the birds and beasts take notice.
Perhaps a better and more accurate way to describe this is to say that it speaks of the charms of a uniquely beautiful woman who is so beautiful that fish stay on the bottom of the water and flying wild geese fall from the sky in shame.
This proverb is so famous that it is also known and used in Japan (same characters, different pronunciation).
Note: This can also be written 沉魚落雁 instead of 沈魚落雁 (just the first character varies slightly).
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