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Giraffe in Chinese / Japanese...

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Personalize your custom “Giraffe” project by clicking the button next to your favorite “Giraffe” title below...

 zhǎng jǐng lù
Giraffe Scroll

長頸鹿 is the Chinese word for Giraffe (the animal).

Not to be confused with the mythical “kirin” or “qilin” beast.

Kirin / Giraffe / Mythical Creature

 qí lǐn
 keilun
 kirin
Kirin / Giraffe / Mythical Creature Scroll

麒麟 is the title of a mythical beast of Asia.

The animal is thought to be related to the giraffe, and in some ways, it is a giraffe. However, it is often depicted with the horns of a dragon or deer and sometimes with the body like a horse, but many variations exist.

In Japanese, it is pronounced “Kirin” as in “Kirin Ichiban” beer.

Kirin - Mythical Beast and Great Japanese Beer!
Notes:

1. This is sometimes spelled as “kylin.”

2. In Japanese, this is the only Kanji word for giraffe. Therefore in Japan, this word needs context to know whether you are talking about the mythical creature or the long-necked giraffe of Africa.

3. Apparently, this was the first word used for regular giraffes in China (some were brought from Africa to China during the Ming Dynasty - probably around the year 1400). Though the mythical creature may have existed before, the name “qilin” was given to the “new giraffe.” This is because, more than 600 years ago, giraffes somewhat matched the mythical creature's description when Chinese people saw them for the first time. Later, to avoid such an ambiguous title, a three-character word was devised to mean a “giraffe of Africa.” The characters for “qilin” shown here are only for the mythological version in modern Chinese.

4. More information about the qilin / kirin from Wikipedia.

5. This creature is sometimes translated as the “Chinese Unicorn,” although it is generally portrayed with two horns. I think this is done more for the fantasy aspect of the unicorn and because most westerners don't know what a qilin or kirin is (this avoids a long explanation by the translator).

6. In Korean, this can mean kirin or simply giraffe (usually, the mythological creature is what they would think of when seeing these characters alone on a wall scroll).


Not the results for giraffe that you were looking for?

Below are some entries from our dictionary that may match your giraffe search...

Characters

If shown, 2nd row is Simp. Chinese

Pronunciation
Romanization
Simple Dictionary Definition

麒麟

see styles
qí lín
    qi2 lin2
ch`i lin
    chi lin
 kirin
    きりん

More info & calligraphy:

Kirin / Giraffe / Mythical Creature
qilin (mythical Chinese animal); kylin; Chinese unicorn; commonly mistranslated as giraffe
(1) (kana only) giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis); (2) qilin (Chinese unicorn); (3) Kirin (brand of beer); (surname, female given name) Kirin
Male and female unicorns; the qilin in general.

長頸鹿


长颈鹿

see styles
cháng jǐng lù
    chang2 jing3 lu4
ch`ang ching lu
    chang ching lu

More info & calligraphy:

Giraffe
giraffe; CL:隻|只[zhi1]

騏驎


骐麟

see styles
qí lín
    qi2 lin2
ch`i lin
    chi lin
variant of 麒麟[qi2 lin2]; qilin (mythical Chinese animal); kylin; Chinese unicorn; commonly mistranslated as giraffe

ジラフ

see styles
 jirafu
    ジラフ
giraffe

山西獸


山西兽

see styles
shān xī shòu
    shan1 xi1 shou4
shan hsi shou
Shansitherium fuguensis (early giraffe)

薩摩麟


萨摩麟

see styles
sà mó lín
    sa4 mo2 lin2
sa mo lin
Samotherium (early giraffe)

麒麟座

see styles
qí lín zuò
    qi2 lin2 zuo4
ch`i lin tso
    chi lin tso
 kirinza
    きりんざ
Monoceros (constellation)
{astron} Camelopardalis (constellation); the Giraffe

キリン科

see styles
 kirinka
    キリンか
Giraffidae (family containing the giraffe and the okapi)

マサイ麒麟

see styles
 masaikirin; masaikirin
    マサイきりん; マサイキリン
(kana only) masai giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis tippelskirchii); maasai giraffe; Kilimanjaro giraffe

キリン保全財団

see styles
 kirinhozenzaidan
    きりんほぜんざいだん
(o) Giraffe Conservation Foundation

Variations:
麒麟(P)
騏驎

see styles
 kirin(p); kirin
    きりん(P); キリン
(1) (kana only) giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis); (2) qilin (Chinese unicorn); (3) (騏驎 only) (archaism) horse that can ride 1000 ri in a day

キリンとペリカンとぼく

see styles
 kirintoperikantoboku
    キリンとペリカンとぼく
(work) The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me (book); (wk) The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me (book)

アウケノグラニスオッキデンタリス

see styles
 aukenoguranisuokkidentarisu
    アウケノグラニスオッキデンタリス
bubu (Auchenoglanis occidentalis); giraffe catfish

The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese...

Title CharactersRomaji (Romanized Japanese)Various forms of Romanized Chinese
Giraffe長頸鹿
长颈鹿
zhǎng jǐng lù
zhang3 jing3 lu4
zhang jing lu
zhangjinglu
chang ching lu
changchinglu
Kirin
Giraffe
Mythical Creature
麒麟kirinqí lǐn / qi2 lin3 / qi lin / qilinch`i lin / chilin / chi lin
In some entries above you will see that characters have different versions above and below a line.
In these cases, the characters above the line are Traditional Chinese, while the ones below are Simplified Chinese.


Dictionary

Lookup Giraffe in my Japanese & Chinese Dictionary


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A nice Chinese calligraphy wall scroll

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A professional Chinese Calligrapher

Professional calligraphers are getting to be hard to find these days.
Instead of drawing characters by hand, the new generation in China merely type roman letters into their computer keyboards and pick the character that they want from a list that pops up.

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Trying to learn Chinese calligrapher - a futile effort

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A high-ranked Chinese master calligrapher that I met in Zhongwei

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Check out my lists of Japanese Kanji Calligraphy Wall Scrolls and Old Korean Hanja Calligraphy Wall Scrolls.

Some people may refer to this entry as Giraffe Kanji, Giraffe Characters, Giraffe in Mandarin Chinese, Giraffe Characters, Giraffe in Chinese Writing, Giraffe in Japanese Writing, Giraffe in Asian Writing, Giraffe Ideograms, Chinese Giraffe symbols, Giraffe Hieroglyphics, Giraffe Glyphs, Giraffe in Chinese Letters, Giraffe Hanzi, Giraffe in Japanese Kanji, Giraffe Pictograms, Giraffe in the Chinese Written-Language, or Giraffe in the Japanese Written-Language.

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