The kanji 鯨 means "whale". It represents the large marine mammal known for its size and aquatic lifestyle. The character encapsulates the essence of this creature: its enormous form, its habitat in the ocean, and its status as a significant part of marine ecosystems.

・On-yomi (音読み): ゲイ (gei) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): くじら (kujira)

⚫︎鯨 (くじら) が海 (うみ) を泳 (およ) いでいます。 Translation: A whale is swimming in the sea. ⚫︎捕鯨 (ほげい) は歴史 (れきし) の中 (なか) で行 (おこな) われてきました。 Translation: Whaling has been carried out throughout history. ⚫︎鯨肉 (げいにく) は美味 (おい) しいです。 Translation: Whale meat is delicious.

The kanji 鯨 is a phono-semantic compound (形声文字, keisei moji). The radical is 魚 (うお, sakana), which means "fish", indicating that it is related to aquatic life. The phonetic component is 京 (きょう, kyou), which suggests the sound "kei" and contributes to the pronunciation ゲイ (gei). Therefore, the character’s form suggests that it's a large aquatic animal (fish) with a sound related to "kei." The addition of the 魚 radical is to show the character's general class is an aquatic animal, while the 京 acts as the sound indicator and contributes to the overall character's meaning of a large sea mammal.