pīnyīn 
pin1yin1 
ㄓㄨㄧㄣ 
 
simplified 
traditional 
 
鹄 
鵠 
gu3 
 
 
center or bull's eye of an archery target (old); goal; target 
鹄 
鵠 
hu2 
 
 
swan 
 
strokes 
18 
 
radical 
 
 
strokes after radical 
7 
 
白鹄 
白鵠 
bai2 hu2 
 
 
(white) swan 
鹄的 
鵠的 
gu3 di4 
 
 
bull's-eye; target; objective 
鸿鹄 
鴻鵠 
hong2 hu2 
 
 
swan; person with noble aspirations 
鹄候 
鵠候 
hu2 hou4 
 
 
to respectfully await; to look forward to 
刻鹄类鹜 
刻鵠類鶩 
ke4 hu2 lei4 wu4 
 
 
to aim to carve a swan and get a semblance of a duck (idiom); to fail utterly in trying to copy something; to get a reasonably good, if not perfect, result 
燕雀安知鸿鹄之志 
燕雀安知鴻鵠之志 
yan4 que4 an1 zhi1 hong2 hu2 zhi1 zhi4 
 
 
lit. can the sparrow and swallow know the will of the great swan? (idiom); fig. how can we small fry predict the ambitions of the great? 
燕雀焉知鸿鹄之志 
燕雀焉知鴻鵠之志 
yan4 que4 yan1 zhi1 hong2 gu3 zhi1 zhi4 
 
 
lit. can the sparrow and swallow know the will of the great swan? (idiom); fig. how can we small fry predict the ambitions of the great?