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Etymology data from Wiktionary via Wiktextract (CC BY-SA 4.0). Chinese character data from the 說文解字, the Taiwan MOE 國語辭典簡編本 (CC BY-ND 3.0 TW) and HSK/TOCFL lists.

Explanations are written by a local model (gemma4) and only published after a verification pass against the cited sources. How it works.

Chinese

魚

yú
fish (Classifier: 條／条 m c h j mb x; 尾 m h mn mn-t; 隻／只 g mn x; 頭／头 mb md; 梗 w)
  • Pictogram
  • HSK 2
  • TOCFL 2
  • radical 魚
  • 11 strokes

Etymology graph

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  • borrowed
  • derived
  • parts
  • meaning component
  • sound component
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Origin

Pictogram (象形) – a fish. A conservative variant is 𤋳.

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

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • partChinese刀 “knife; blade (Classifier: 把 m c g h j mb md w x; 張／张 c h; 叢／丛 mn; 支 mn mn-t)”
  • inheritedProto-Sino-Tibetan*s-ŋja “tusk; tooth”
  • partChinese田 “farmland (Classifier: 塊／块 m c)”
  • partChinese火 “fire; flame (Classifier: 把 m; 團／团 m)”

Words built on it: 鮮

Meanings

character
  1. fish (Classifier: 條／条 m c h j mb x; 尾 m h mn mn-t; 隻／只 g mn x; 頭／头 mb md; 梗 w)
  2. Used in names of aquatic animals.
  3. fish (as a food)
  4. (telegraphy) the sixth day of a month
  5. ancient form of 漁 /渔 (yú)
  6. a surname

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

魚：水蟲也。象形。魚尾與燕尾相似。凡魚之屬皆从魚。

Xu Shen, c. 100 CE — the first analytical dictionary of Chinese characters.

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 水生脊椎動物的總稱。冷血、卵生或卵胎生、有鱗，以鰓呼吸，以鰭游泳，種類繁多，分布於各種水域中。
  2. 形狀像魚的動物。 例：木魚、鱷魚、蠹魚
  3. 姓。

© Ministry of Education, Taiwan — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW, shown unaltered.

How 魚 was written 字形演變

  1. 魚 in Oracle bone script
    Oracle bone
    甲骨文
    Shang, c. 1250–1050 BCE
  2. 魚 in Bronze script
    Bronze
    金文
    Shang–Zhou
  3. 魚 in Chu slips & silk script
    Chu slips & silk
    楚系簡帛
    Warring States
  4. 魚 in Qin slips script
    Qin slips
    秦系簡牘
    Qin
  5. 魚 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  6. 魚 in Regular script
    Regular
    楷書
    since c. 200 CE

Historical forms collected by the legacy etymfun dataset; most characters have several attested variants.

Sources

  • Structural decomposition (chaizi) — See upstream
  • Historical glyph forms (zdic.net 字形演变) — Rights unverified
  • HSK / TOCFL word lists — Facts (levels)
  • 教育部《國語辭典簡編本》 (Taiwan MOE) — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW
  • 說文解字 Shuowen Jiezi (Xu Shen, c. 100 CE) — Public domain
  • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Wiktionary: 魚