鱼 yú Fish

The Chinese character meaning fish is 魚 in the traditional form and
 鱼 in the simplified form. It is pronounced yú.

This character is also a radical, meaning that it is used as a building
block in other, more complex Chinese characters, many of which
have something to do with fish or seafood, as in these examples:

• 魦 - shā - shark family, including some rays and skates
• 魨 - tún - leatherfish
• 鮚 / 鲒 - jié - oyster
• 鮞 / 鲕 - ér - caviar; fish roe
• 鯁 / 鲠 - gěng - blunt; fish bones; unyielding
• 鯖 / 鲭 - qīng - mackerel; mullet
• 鯨 / 鲸 - jīng - whale
• 鱟 / 鲎 - hòu - king crab

The character 魚 / 鱼 is a pictograph which, in its earliest forms,
clearly showed the fins, eyes, and scales of a fish. The current
traditional form incorporates the four strokes of the fire radical
(火 - 灬), perhaps suggesting that fish is most useful to human
beings when it is cooked.

Mandarin Vocabulary With Yú

	Simplified Characters	Pinyin
	八带鱼 octopus	bā dài yú
	鲍鱼 abalone	bào yú
	捕鱼 to catch fish	bǔ yú
	炒鱿鱼 to be fired	chǎo yóu yú
	钓鱼 to go fishing	diào yú
	鳄鱼 crocodile	è yú
	鮭鱼 salmon	guī yú
	金鱼 goldfish	jīn yú
	鲸鱼 whale	jīng yú
	鲨鱼 shark	shā yú
	鱼夫 fisherman	yú fū
	鱼竿 fishing rod	yú gān
	鱼网 fishing net	yú wǎng