also: たくぼくちょう · けら · けらつつき
noun
General term for woodpeckers (family Picidae). In everyday Japanese, the katakana form キツツキ is standard.
森の中でキツツキが木をつつく音が聞こえた。
I heard the sound of a woodpecker pecking at a tree in the forest.
キツツキは長い
Woodpeckers drill holes in trees with their long beaks.
Literary or formal kanji spelling; rarely used in everyday writing. The reading きつつき is a jukujikun for this kanji form.
Alternate on'yomi reading of the same kanji form; very rare and mostly found in older or specialized texts.
Hiragana spelling is also used, especially in children's books or informal writing.
Compound reading combining けら and つつき; very rare and possibly historical or regional.
Literary or poetic term for woodpecker, often used in names or classical contexts; not common in everyday speech.
The word きつつき is of native Japanese origin, likely from the sound of pecking (擬声語). The kanji 啄木鳥 is a Chinese-derived compound meaning 'peck-wood-bird' and is read with the jukujikun きつつき. The reading たくぼくちょう is the on'yomi of the same characters. The forms けら and けらつつき are older or dialectal variants.