Peng (mythology)

Peng (simplified Chinese: 鹏; traditional Chinese: 鵬; pinyin: péng; Wade–Giles: p'eng) or Dapeng (大鵬) is a giant bird that transforms from a Kun (simplified Chinese: 鲲; traditional Chinese: 鯤; pinyin: kūn; Wade–Giles: k'un) giant fish in Chinese mythology. In comparative mythology of giant creatures, Peng is likened to the Roc or Garuda and Kun to the Leviathan.

The Chinese logograms for peng and kun exemplify common radical-phonetic characters. Peng (鵬) combines the "bird radical" () with a peng ( "friend") phonetic, and kun combines the "fish radical" () with a kun ( "progeny; insect") phonetic.

Both the mythic Chinese Peng and Kun names involve word play. Peng () was anciently a variant Chinese character for feng () in fenghuang (鳳凰 "Chinese phoenix") (ca. 100 CE Shuowen Jiezi); Kun originally meant "fish roe; fry; spawn" (ca. 200 BCE Erya).

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