鱼 | yú

In Mandarin Chinese, 鱼 (Pinyin: yú 🔊) is a noun that means “fish”.

鱼 is a simplified form of the traditional character 魚, where the radical 灬 gets replaced by 一. We’ve already seen this kind of simplification in the characters for horse (馬 → 马), bird (鳥 → 鸟) and crow (烏 → 乌).

According to L.J. Howell’s Etymological Dictionary of Han/Chinese Characters, 魚 is

A depiction of the hard, dried skeleton of a fish.

Compounds of 鱼 include

• 人 + 鱼 = 人鱼 (rényú): mermaid, merfolk
• 金 + 鱼 = 金鱼 (jīnyú): goldfish
• 鱼 + 狗 = 鱼狗 (yúgǒu): kingfisher
• 鱼 + 子 = 鱼子 (yúzǐ): roe, fish eggs
• 鱼 + 网 = 鱼网 (yúwǎng): fishing net
• 鱼 + 水 = 鱼水 (yúshuǐ): (figurative) intimate relationship; inseparability

In Japanese, 魚 is pronounced uo (🔊).

底見えて 魚見えて秋の 水深し 子規 Soko miete uo miete aki no mizu fukashi The bottom seen clearly, The fish seen clearly, — Deep is the water of autumn. Shiki (Translated by R.H. Blyth)

More photos related to fish, sea glass and calligraphy @ Shutterstock.