Nihongo

Kanji Detail of 鮎

Level:N1 High
Strokes:16
Stroke Order
Related Words
AI Explanation
Basic Meaning

The kanji represents the sweetfish, also known as ayu (a type of freshwater fish). This character specifically refers to this particular species of fish.

Readings

・On-yomi (音読み): *None* (typically not used as an on-yomi reading) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): あゆ (*ayu*)

Usage Examples

⚫︎ 鮎の塩焼き Translation: Grilled sweetfish with salt. ⚫︎ 鮎釣り Translation: Ayu fishing. ⚫︎ 鮎料理 Translation: Ayu dishes / Cuisine featuring ayu.

Origin and Formation

The kanji is a phono-semantic compound (形声文字 *keisei moji*). * The left side, 月 (also written as 肉 *niku* when as a radical, and representing "meat"), provides the meaning component, and relates to the fish's body. * The right side, 占 (*uranai*, meaning "divination" or "to divine") originally acted as a phonetic component, indicating the sound of the word. The phonetic component is less clear now. Over time, the character evolved to exclusively represent the ayu fish.

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