鴨 (Kangxi radical 196, 鳥+5, 16 strokes, cangjie input 田中竹日火 (WLHAF), four-corner 6752₇, composition ⿰甲鳥)

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1487, character 8
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 46823
• Dae Jaweon: page 2018, character 13
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 7, page 4623, character 7
• Unihan data for U+9D28

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *qraːb): phonetic 甲 (OC *kraːb) + semantic 鳥 (“bird”).

Shuowen commented that 鴨 is the colloquial name for 鶩 (OC *moɡs, *moːɡ, “duck”). Probably onomatopoeic in origin. Compare Proto-Tani *ǰap (“duck”).

Another word meaning "duck" in Old Chinese is 鴄 (OC *pʰid), a substrate loanword, possibly from Tai-Kadai or Austroasiatic.

“male prostitute”

By analogy with 雞／鸡 (jī, “female prostitute”, literally “chicken”). First used in 1991 film 《雞鴨戀》. (Zhang, 2018)

鴨

1. duck (Classifier: 隻／只 c)

   北京烤鴨／北京烤鸭  ―  Běijīng kǎoyā  ―  Peking duck

2. (slang) male prostitute (Classifier: 隻／只 c)

   Coordinate term: 雞 / 鸡 (jī)

3. (Mainland China Mandarin, neologism, slang) eye dialect spelling of 呀 (ya, “sentence-final particle”)

• “鴨”, in 教育部臺灣台語常用詞辭典 (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2025.

(Jinmeiyō kanji)

• Go-on: よう (yō)^{←えふ (efu, historical)}
• Kan-on: おう (ō)^{←あふ (afu, historical)}
• Kun: かも (kamo, 鴨)、あひる (ahiru, 鴨)

Japanese Wikipedia has an article on:

カモ

Wikipedia ^ja

English Wikipedia has an article on:

Duck

Wikipedia

Unknown. Possibly alteration of Old Japanese 浮かむ (ukamu, “to float”), modern 浮かぶ (ukabu). Alternatively, may derive from Middle Chinese 雁 (MC ngaenH, “a type of wild goose”), borrowed with the kan'on reading gan, with initial g changing to k due to the avoidance of voiced stops at the start of Japanese words in older times, and final n changing to mu due to apparent lack of final n in Old Japanese.

• 鳧

• (Tokyo) かも (Atamadaka – )
• IPA^(key):

鴨(かも) or 鴨(カモ) • (kamo) 

1. a duck
2. (slang) (from the way ducks return to the same place and are thus easy to hunt) a mark or easy target for a swindle, someone who is likely to lose at gambling or other competition
3. (slang) (from the good flavor of duck meat) short for 鴨の味 (kamo no aji, “duck flavor”): a very good flavor; by extension, any remarkably good sensation or feeling, particularly describing happy married life
4. (slang) (from the uniform of black clothing) short for 黒鴨 (kurogamo, “black duck”): a male servant, such as a butler or chauffeur (compare English penguin)

As with many terms that name organisms, this term is often spelled in katakana, especially in biological contexts (where katakana is customary), as カモ (kamo).

• 家鴨(あひる), 鶩(あひる) (ahiru): a domestic duck

Probably from the duck sense above, in reference to the 鴨川 (Kamogawa, literally “duck river”) flowing through Kyoto.

• 賀茂

• IPA^(key):

鴨(かも) • (Kamo) 

1. a surname
2. any of various places, particularly in Kyoto

Rare alternative spelling for 家鴨 (ahiru). See that entry for fuller details.

• (Tokyo) あひる (Heiban – )
• IPA^(key):

鴨(あひる) • (ahiru) 

1. (rare) alternative spelling of 家鴨: a domestic duck, Anas platyrhynchos var. domesticus, descended from the mallard

鴨 (eumhun 오리 압 (ori ap))

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

• 𩿠
• 𪆧

From Proto-Vietic *viːt.

鴨 (uịt)

1. duck, drake

• Vietnamese: vịt (鴨)

鴨: Hán Nôm readings: áp, vịt

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