鲶鱼 (nián yú) — catfish | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

catfish

Measure word · 条

鲶鱼，。
Zhè tiáo nián yú hěn dà, chà bu duō yǒu liǎng jīn zhòng.
This catfish is very big, almost two jin in weight.
鲶鱼。
Tā zuì xǐ huan chī hóng shāo nián yú.
He likes braised catfish the most.
鲶鱼。
Chí táng lǐ yǎng le hěn duō nián yú.
There are many catfish raised in the pond.

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

鲶niáncatfish

鲶 names the catfish kind and 鱼 marks it as a fish.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 鯰; 鲶 is its simplified writing.

魚念鯰

Meaning part形符xíngfú

魚魚yúfish

Sound part声符shēngfú

念

Same sound today

The traditional form 鯰 has 魚, meaning fish, and 念 for the sound. The simplified 鲶 is a later shorthand, not the historical form.

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 魚; 鱼 is its simplified writing.

For 鱼, the traditional form 魚 is a picture of a fish.

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