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咸鱼 (xián yú) — salted fish (food); (slang) a person with no ambition, a 'dead fish'

Definition

Literally 'salted fish' — in slang it means a person with zero ambition or drive, a 'dead fish' who has given up. To escape this state is 翻身 ('turn over,' like flipping the fish).

noun
salted fish (food)(slang) a person with no ambitiona 'dead fish'
Measure word · 条

Examples

  • 咸鱼，。
    Mā ma zuò le yì pán xián yú, wén qǐ lái hěn xiāng.
    Mom made a plate of salted fish; it smells delicious.
  • ，咸鱼。
    Tā zhěng tiān shén me yě bú zuò, jiǎn zhí shì yì tiáo xián yú.
    He does nothing all day; he's practically a dead fish.
  • 咸鱼，。
    Bié dāng xián yú le, nǔ lì yí xià shuō bú dìng jiù néng fān shēn.
    Stop being a dead fish; if you work hard, you might just turn things around.

Origin

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.

咸xiánsalty
鱼yúfish

咸 (salty) describes 鱼 (fish), giving salted 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 鹹; 咸 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
鹵鹵lǔsalt
Sound part声符shēngfú
咸
咸xián鹹xián
Same sound today

The traditional form 鹹 pairs 鹵 (salt) with 咸 as a sound part; the simplified 咸 is a shorthand, and its parts are not the historical components.

Open 咸 →

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.

Open 鱼 →
Appears in
Meat & Seafood

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