Learn Chinese Characters

Meaning

fish

Chinese: 鱼。

Hear the Four Tones

The same syllable “yu” becomes a different word in each tone. 鱼 is the 2nd tone. Tap any tone to hear a native voice and see its pitch shape.

Stroke Order

Tap Animate to watch the strokes in order, or Practice to trace it yourself.

Common Words

  • 钓鱼diào yúto fish (with line and hook); to angle; (fig.) to entrap; (Tw) to repeatedly nod one's head while dozing
  • 鲨鱼shā yúshark
  • 鳄鱼è yúalligator; crocodile (
  • 人鱼rén yúmermaid; dugong; sea cow; manatee
  • 鱼生yú shēngsliced raw fish

Example Sentence

河里有很多小鱼。Hé lǐ yǒu hěn duō xiǎo yú.There are many little fish in the river.

river (CL:条,道)insideyǒuto havehěnveryduōmanyxiǎosmallfish (CL:条,尾)

Go deeper

Where this character comes from

A pictograph of a fish — head at the top, body in the middle, tail at the bottom. Simplified from 魚.

A way to remember it

Head, body and tail stacked top to bottom — a fish.

Easy to confuse with

  • ‘Rash / Shandong’: 鱼 placed on top of 日.