鱼 (yú): fish

鱼 (yú) is a Chinese character meaning “fish.” Classified as HSK Level 2 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of ⺈ (structural), 田 (structural) and 一 (structural). It ranks #852 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically pictographic, 鱼 a fish swimming upwards. Its radical form 鱼 (fish) appears in many related characters such as 鲜 (xiān, fresh), 鲁 (lǔ, Shandong, foolish), 鲨 (shā, shark).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. fish

Etymology & Origin

鱼

pictographicA fish swimming upwards

Decomposition: ⿱⿱⺈田一 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Practice writing 鱼 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 鱼

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
鲨鱼nounshā yúshark6
钓鱼verbdiào yúto fish (with line and hook)6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
鳄鱼nounè yúalligator
金枪鱼nounjīn qiāng yútuna
鲸鱼nounjīng yúwhale
鱿鱼nounyóu yúsquid
炒鱿鱼verbchǎo yóu yú(coll.) to fire sb
美人鱼měi rén yúmermaid
章鱼nounzhāng yúoctopus
鲑鱼nounguī yúsalmon
金鱼nounjīn yúgoldfish
鱼子酱nounyú zǐ jiàngcaviar
鱼雷nounyú léitorpedo
捕鱼verbbǔ yúto catch fish
鱼缸nounyú gāngfish tank
鱼类nounyú lèifishes
炸鱼verbzhá yúdeep-fried fish
108
Total compounds
30
As first character
69
As last character
1
As middle character

鱼 appears in 108 compound words: 30 as the first character, 69 as the last, and 1 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with 鱼 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

钓diào
0.7065,366 co-occurrences
鲨shā
0.6433,230 co-occurrences
鲤lǐ
0.6361,380 co-occurrences
澈chè
0.59825 co-occurrences
潭tán
0.59037 co-occurrences
鳄è
0.5781,495 co-occurrences
雷léi
0.56416,780 co-occurrences
鲸jīng
0.5311,013 co-occurrences
虾xiā
0.518723 co-occurrences
类lèi
0.5059,990 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (22)

沉鱼落雁chényúluòyànHSK 7+

extremely beautiful; drop-dead gorgeous

phrase
浑水摸鱼húnshuǐmōyúHSK 7+

to take advantage of a crisis for personal gain; to fish in troubled waters

phrase
混水摸鱼húnshuǐmōyúHSK 6+

alternative form of 渾水摸魚 /浑水摸鱼 (húnshuǐmōyú)

phrase
临川羡鱼lín chuān xiàn yúHSK 7+

see 臨淵羨魚,不如退而結網|临渊羡鱼,不如退而结网

phrase
临河羡鱼lín hé xiàn yúHSK 5+

see 臨淵羨魚,不如退而結網|临渊羡鱼,不如退而结网

phrase
临渊羡鱼línyuānxiànyúHSK 7+

to wish for something good but take no action to obtain it; irresoluteness

phrase
漏网游鱼lòu wǎng yóu yúHSK 5+

see 漏網之魚|漏网之鱼

phrase
漏网之鱼lòuwǎngzhīyúHSK 5+

people that are able to escape legal sanctions by luck

phrase
如鱼得水rú yú dé shuǐHSK 3+

like a fish back in water (idiom); glad to be back in one's proper surroundings

phrase
咸鱼翻身xiányú fānshēnHSK 4+

to suddenly thrive and prosper while seemingly hopeless before; to make a comeback victory

verb
鱼贯而出yú guàn ér chūHSK 6+

to file out; to walk out in a line

phrase
鱼贯而入yú guàn ér rùHSK 6+

to walk in in a line

phrase

Showing 12 of 22 idioms containing 鱼.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

鱼肉富含蛋白质,是很好的营养来源。

Yúròu fùhán dànbáizhì, shì hěn hǎo de yíngyǎng láiyuán.

Fish meat is rich in protein and is a good source of nutrition.

NewsFeb 2026

花莲鲤鱼潭9岁男童溺毙 纵管处:与地方政府共同强...

huā lián 鲤 yú tán suì nán tóng 溺 bì zòng guǎn chǔ yǔ dì fāng zhèng fǔ gòng tóng qiáng . . .

9-Year-Old Boy Drowns in Liyu Lake, Hualien Water Resources Agency: Jointly Strengthening Safety Measures with Local Government

NewsFeb 2026

8岁男童命丧花莲鲤鱼潭!家属控快艇“船尾浪”酿祸 交通部回应...

suì nán tóng mìng sāng huā lián 鲤 yú tán ! jiā shǔ kòng kuài tǐng chuán wěi làng niàng huò jiāo tōng bù huí yīng . . .

8-Year-Old Boy Dies in Hualien's Carp Pond! Family Blames Speedboat's "Wake" for Tragedy; Ministry of Transportation Responds...

NewsFeb 2026

悬赏1万元 济南长21米、高7米“巨型鳌鱼”飞了 全网急寻

xuán shǎng wàn yuán jì nán cháng mǐ gāo mǐ jù xíng 鳌 yú fēi le quán wǎng jí xún

Reward of 10,000 yuan offered as 21-meter-long, 7-meter-tall "giant lobster" vanishes in Jinan Nationwide search underway

Nownews今日新聞Feb 2026

纵管处启动鲤鱼潭水域安全全面检讨 将与地方协力强化管理...

zòng guǎn chǔ qǐ dòng lǐ yú tán shuǐ yù ān quán quán miàn jiǎn tǎo jiāng yǔ dì fāng xié lì qiáng huà guǎn lǐ . . .

The longitudinal management office launched a comprehensive review of the safety of Liyutan waters and will work with local governments to strengthen management...

百度新闻Feb 2026

山东济南网红巨型空飘鳌鱼被大风吹走,现场工作人员尝..

shān dōng jì nán wǎng hóng jù xíng kōng piāo 鳌 yú bèi dà fēng chuī zǒu , xiàn chǎng gōng zuò rén yuán cháng . .

Giant Floating Sea Turtle at Jinan's Viral Attraction Blown Away by Strong Winds; Staff Tried to Catch It...

Tatoeba

这条鱼还是活的吗?

Zhè tiáo yú háishi huó de ma?

Is this fish still alive?

Tatoeba

如果你不忙,这周末为何不来跟我钓鱼呢?

Rúguǒ nǐ bù máng, zhè zhōumò wèihé bù lái gēn wǒ diàoyú ne?

If you are not busy, why don't you come fishing with me this weekend?

Tatoeba

钢琴和鱼有什么区别?

Gāngqín hé yú yǒu shénme qūbié?

What is the difference between a piano and a fish?

Tatoeba

你不喜欢生鱼片,是吗?

Nǐ bù xǐhuan shēngyúpiàn, shì ma?

You don't like sashimi, do you?

Character Family

鱼 Radical Family — Characters sharing the fish radical

Related Characters

Homophones — Characters pronounced yú

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 鱼 (yú) mean in Chinese?
鱼 (yú) primarily means "fish." It is classified as HSK Level 2, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #852 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 鱼 have?
鱼 is written with 8 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 鱼?
The radical associated with 鱼 is 鱼 (fish). This radical appears in many characters related to fish.
What are the components of 鱼?
鱼 is composed of: ⺈ (structural), 田 (structural), 一 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱⿱⺈田一 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 鱼?
Common words with 鱼 include: 鲨鱼 (shā yú, "shark"); 钓鱼 (diào yú, "to fish (with line and hook)"); 鳄鱼 (è yú, "alligator"); 金枪鱼 (jīn qiāng yú, "tuna"); 鲸鱼 (jīng yú, "whale"). There are over 108 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 鱼 (yú)?
Several characters share the pronunciation yú: 于 ((of time or place) in), 与 (and), 语 (language), 预 (to advance), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 鱼 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 鱼 and the traditional form is 魚.

Practice writing 鱼 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.