also: めいちょう
songbird; bird with a beautiful song
Refers to birds known for their singing, such as nightingales or canaries. Often used in poetic or descriptive contexts.
In spring, you can hear the chirping of songbirds.
His hobby is keeping songbirds.
nightingale; common nightingale
Standard spelling for the reading なきどり.
Variant spelling; can also be read めいちょう.
Sino-Japanese reading; less common in everyday use.
Compound of 鳴き (naki, 'singing', from 鳴く naku 'to sing (of birds)') + 鳥 (tori, 'bird'), with rendaku voicing tori → dori. The reading めいちょう is the Sino-Japanese on'yomi of the same characters.