魚 means “fish”

さかな · sakana

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading): うお, さかな
On'yomi (Chinese reading): ギョ

JLPT N4 · Taught in grade 2 · 11 strokes

The story

Fish swimming in mountain streams and coastal waters: Japan's abundant connection to the sea.

Building block for many food-related kanji

Where it comes from

Pictographic (象形文字): A fish with head, scaly body, and tail fin.

The ancient pictograph was a detailed fish viewed from the side. You can still see it in the modern form: the top part (⺈ and 田) forms the head and scaly body, while the four dots at the bottom (灬) are the tail fin fanning out.

To remember it: The top half is the fish body (with田 as scales), the four bottom dots (灬) are the spread tail fin.

Its parts

⺈ Knife/horn · Top
田 Field/scales · Center
灬 Fire/fins · Bottom

A creature with scales (田) and fins (灬): fish

Words with 魚

川魚 (かわざかな, kawazakana): river fish
魚肉 (ぎょにく, gyoniku): fish meat
生魚 (なまざかな, namazakana): raw fish
焼魚 (やきざかな, yakizakana): grilled fish

Example sentences

魚が好きですか。 Do you like fish?
新鮮な魚を買いました。 I bought fresh fish.

Kanji that look like 魚

鳥 (bird): 魚 has four dots at bottom (tail fin), 鳥 has four dots too but different top: fish vs bird

More from Food & Dining

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