文鳥(ぶんちょう)

ぶんちょう
noun
Java sparrow (pet bird)
natureanimal-bird
1. Java sparrow; Java finch
A small finch with a gray body, white cheeks, and a thick pink beak, popular in Japan as a hand-tamed pet bird.
文鳥(ぶんちょう)を飼(か)っている。
I keep a Java sparrow.
文鳥(ぶんちょう)が手(て)に乗(の)ってくれた。
The Java sparrow perched on my hand.
Java sparrows become very attached to people, so they have long been popular as pets.

A small songbird kept as a pet in Japan since the Edo period. The white-and-gray (並文鳥(なみぶんちょう)) and all-white (白文鳥(はくぶんちょう)) varieties are most common.

Common collocations

  • 文鳥(ぶんちょう)を飼(か)う: to keep a Java sparrow
  • 手(て)乗(の)り文鳥(ぶんちょう): a hand-tamed Java sparrow

Similar words