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Definition 2024


See also: , , and

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

(radical 195 魚+0, 11 strokes, cangjie input 弓田火 (NWF), four-corner 27336, composition)

  1. Kangxi radical #195, (fish).

Derived characters

  • Index:Chinese radical/魚

Descendants

References

  • KangXi: page 1465, character 1
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 45956
  • Dae Jaweon: page 1998, character 1
  • Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 7, page 4674, character 1
  • Unihan data for U+9B5A

Chinese

trad.
simp.
alt. forms 𤉯
𤋳
𩵋

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character
Oracle bone script Bronze inscriptions Large seal script Small seal script
Characters in the same phonetic series () (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
*sŋaː
*sŋaː
*ŋa
*ŋa
*ŋa

Pictogram (象形) – pictographic representation of a fish.

Etymology

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-ŋja. Cognate with (OC *ŋa, “to fish”).

Pronunciation



  • Dialectal data
Variety Location
Mandarin Beijing /yu³⁵/
Harbin /y²⁴/
Tianjin /y⁴⁵/
Jinan /y⁴²/
Qingdao /y⁴²/
Zhengzhou /y⁴²/
Xi'an /y²⁴/
Xining /y²⁴/
Yinchuan /y⁵³/
Lanzhou /y⁵³/
Ürümqi /y⁵¹/
Wuhan /y²¹³/
Chengdu /y³¹/
Guiyang /i²¹/
Kunming /i³¹/
Nanjing /y²⁴/
Hefei /zz̩ʷ⁵⁵/
Jin Taiyuan /y¹¹/
Pingyao /ȵy¹³/
Hohhot /y³¹/
Wu Shanghai /ŋ̍²³/
/ɦy²³/
Suzhou /ɦy¹³/
/ŋ¹³/
Hangzhou /ɦz̩ʷ²¹³/
Wenzhou /ŋøy³¹/
Hui Shexian /ny⁴⁴/
Tunxi /ȵy⁴⁴/
Xiang Changsha /y¹³/
Xiangtan /y¹²/
Gan Nanchang /ȵie⁴⁵/
Hakka Meixian /n̩¹¹/
Taoyuan /ŋ̍¹¹/
Cantonese Guangzhou /jy²¹/
Nanning /y²¹/
Hong Kong /jy²¹/
Min Xiamen (Min Nan) /gu³⁵/
/hi³⁵/
Fuzhou (Min Dong) /ŋy⁵³/
Jian'ou (Min Bei) /ŋy³³/
Shantou (Min Nan) /hɯ⁵⁵/
Haikou (Min Nan) /zi³¹/
/hu³¹/

Rime
Character
Reading # 1/1
Initial () (31)
Final () (22)
Tone (調) Level (Ø)
Openness (開合) Open
Division () III
Fanqie
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang
/ŋɨʌ/
Pan
Wuyun
/ŋiɔ/
Shao
Rongfen
/ŋiɔ/
Edwin
Pulleyblank
/ŋɨə̆/
Li
Rong
/ŋiɔ/
Wang
Li
/ŋĭo/
Bernard
Karlgren
/ŋi̯wo/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)
Middle
Chinese
‹ ngjo ›
Old
Chinese
/*[r.ŋ]a/
English fish (n.)

Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter-Sagart system:

* Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence;
* Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p;
* Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix;
* Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary;

* Period "." indicates syllable boundary.
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character
Reading # 1/1
No. 15939
Phonetic
component
Rime
group
Rime
subdivision
0
Corresponding
MC rime
Old
Chinese
/*ŋa/

Definitions

  1. fish   (Classifier: m c; m h mn)
  2. A surname.

Compounds

Descendants

Sino-Xenic ():

Others:

  • Dungan: йүр, йү

Japanese

Kanji

(grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

  1. fish

Readings

Compounds

Etymology 1

(uo, io, o, sakana): fish
Kanji in this term
うお
Grade: 2
kun'yomi

From Old Japanese.[1]

The pronunciation shifted from /uwo/ to /uo/.

Pronunciation

Noun

(hiragana うお, romaji uo, historical hiragana うを)

  1. fish
Derived terms

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
いお
Grade: 2
kun'yomi

Alteration of older uo, appearing from roughly the Heian period. Still used in modern Japanese some dialects.[1]

The pronunciation shifted from /uwo/ to /iwo/ to /io/.

Pronunciation

Noun

(hiragana いお, romaji io, historical hiragana いを)

  1. fish

Etymology 3

Kanji in this term

Grade: 2
kun'yomi

Shortening of uo, appearing only in compounds.[1]

The pronunciation shifted from /uwo/ to /wo/ to /o/.

Pronunciation

Noun

(hiragana , romaji o, historical hiragana )

  1. fish
Derived terms

Etymology 4

(na): fish as a side dish
Kanji in this term

Grade: 2
kun'yomi

From Old Japanese. Cognate with (na, a side dish), spelled variously in kanji in modern Japanese as (for meat or fish), (for vegetables), (for fish).[1]

Pronunciation

Noun

(hiragana , romaji na)

  1. fish, especially as food
    • c. 759, Man'yōshū (book 5, poem 869)
      多良志比賣 可尾能美許等能 都良須等 美多々志世利斯 伊志遠多礼美吉
      足姫 神の命の 釣らすと み立たしせりし 石を誰れ見き
      たらしひめ かみのみことの つらすと みたたしせりし いしをたれみき
      tarashi hime kami no mikoto no na tsurasu to mi-tatashi serishi ishi wo tare miki
      who saw the rock that rose up against us as we tried to catch the fish belonging to the empress?
    • c. 759, Man'yōshū (book 2, poem 131)
      滷者無鞆 鯨取 海邊乎指而 和多豆乃 荒礒乃上尓 香青生 玉藻息津藻 朝羽振 風社依米
      潟はなくとも 鯨魚取り 海辺を指して 柔田津の 荒礒の上に か青なる 玉藻沖つ藻 朝羽振る 風こそ寄せめ
      かたはなくとも いさとり うみへをさして にきたづの ありそのうへに かあをなる たまもおきつも あさはふる かぜこそよせめ
      kata wa naku to mo isana tori umihe wo sashite Nikitadzu no ariso no uhe ni kaawo naru tamamo oki tsu mo asa ni furu kaze koso yoseme
      Even though there is no inlet, the wind that blows in the morning gathers green seaweed pearls and offshore seaweed onto the rocky beaches of Nikitazu along the big-fish-hunting [metaphor for "sea"] shore...
Derived terms

Etymology 5

, (sakana): a side dish served with alcoholic beverages
Kanji in this term
さかな
Grade: 2
kun'yomi

Compound of Old Japanese elements (saka, sake, rice wine) + (na, side dish, see also na above).[1] Likely source of Okinawan sakana.

Pronunciation

Alternative forms

Noun

(hiragana さかな, romaji sakana)

  1. fish
  2. a side dish served with alcoholic beverages: not necessarily fish, may be a vegetable or other meat
  3. (archaic) entertainment at a drinking party
Usage notes

This is now the most common general word for fish in modern standard Japanese. The side dish sense is more commonly spelled .

Derived terms

Etymology 6

Kanji in this term
ぎょ
Grade: 2
on'yomi

From Middle Chinese (/ŋiɔ/). Compare modern Mandarin ().

Used in compounds.

Affix

(hiragana ぎょ, romaji gyo)

  1. fish
Derived terms

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 1988, 国語大辞典(新装版) (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
  2. 1 2 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13905-9
  3. 1 2 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, ISBN 978-4-14-011112-3

Korean

Hanja

(eo) (hangeul , revised eo, McCune-Reischauer ŏ, Yale e)

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

Compounds


Mulam

Noun

(məm6)

  1. fish

Okinawan

Kanji

Etymology 1

/uwo//iwo//io//iu/

Cognate with Old Japanese (uwo). Compare modern dialectal mainland Japanese (io), first appearing in print and becoming common from the Heian period, but likely extant earlier.

Noun

(hiragana いう, romaji iu)

  1. fish

Etymology 2

/iu//iju/

Sound shift from iu.

Noun

(hiragana いゆ, romaji iyu)

  1. fish
Derived terms

Old Japanese

Alternative forms

Noun

(na) (kana )

  1. fish
    • c. 759, Man'yōshū (book 2, poem 131)
      滷者無鞆 鯨取 海邊乎指而 和多豆乃 荒礒乃上尓 香青生 玉藻息津藻 朝羽振 風社依米
      潟はなくとも 鯨取り 海辺を指して 柔田津の 荒礒の上に か青なる 玉藻沖つ藻 朝羽振る 風こそ寄せめ
      かたはなくとも いさとり うみへをさして にきたづの ありそのうへに かあをなる たまもおきつも あさはふる かぜこそよせめ
      kata wa naku to mo isana tori umihe wo sashite Nikitadzu no ariso no uhe ni kaawo naru tamamo oki tsu mo asa ni furu kaze koso yoseme
      Even though there is no inlet, the wind that blows in the morning gathers green seaweed pearls and offshore seaweed onto the rocky beaches of Nikitazu along the big-fish-hunting [metaphor for "sea"] shore...

Descendants

  • Japanese: (na)

Vietnamese

Han character

(ngư, ngơ, ngớ, ngừ)

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

Yonaguni

Kanji

(hiragana いゆ, romaji iyu)

Noun

(hiragana いゆ, romaji iyu)

  1. fish
Derived terms

Yoron

Kanji

(hiragana っゆー, romaji 'yū)

Noun

(hiragana っゆー, romaji 'yū)

  1. fish