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魚 — how to write the kanji for “fish”

魚 (“fish”) is a JLPT N4 kanji taught in second grade in Japan. As one of the 214 traditional radicals it heads 207 kanji in KANJIDIC2. On its own it is the word sakana, “fish”. Read gyo, it forms 魚介類 (“marine products”), 金魚 (“goldfish (Carassius auratus)”) and 稚魚 (“fry”); the native reading sakana gives 魚屋 (“fish market”). Mainland Chinese writes it 鱼 (yú, “fish”), an HSK 2 character.

Strokes
11
JLPT
N4
Radical
魚 (“fish”)
On
ギョ
Kun
うお, さかな, -ざかな

Stroke by stroke

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11

Its parts: 𠂊, strokes 1–2; 田 (“rice field”), strokes 3–7; 灬 (“fire”), strokes 8–11, each finished before the next.

  1. Left-falling stroke ㇒topdown and left
  2. Horizontal then left-falling ㇇toprightwards → down and left
  3. Vertical ㇑leftdownwards
  4. Horizontal-turn ㇕leftrightwards → downwards
  5. Vertical ㇑centerdownwards
  6. Horizontal ㇐leftrightwards
  7. Horizontal ㇐leftrightwards
  8. Dot ㇔bottom leftdown and left
  9. Dot ㇔bottomdown and right
  10. Dot ㇔bottomdown and right
  11. Dot ㇔bottom rightdown and right

Japanese and Chinese

The two models differ in shape, so our comparison does not claim an order; compare the numbered frames yourself (11 strokes in Japanese, 11 strokes in Chinese).

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Japanese · KanjiVG · 11 strokes
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Chinese · Make Me a Hanzi · 11 strokes

Trace it

Follow the numbers. Tracing help

Readings

On (Chinese-derived)
ギョ gyo
Kun (native)
うお uo, さかな sakana, -ざかな -zakana (rare)
Meanings
fish
Read gyo
魚介類 金魚 稚魚 魚類 熱帯魚 鮮魚
Read sakana
魚屋
Read uo
魚市場
School year
second grade
Newspaper rank
1208th of 2,500 (KANJIDIC2)
Korean hanja
어 eo
Common words
12 in JMdict

On and kun, explained

Words with 魚

WordReadingMeaning
魚介類ぎょかいるい gyokairuimarine products; seafood
金魚きんぎょ kingyogoldfish (Carassius auratus)
稚魚ちぎょ chigyofry; juvenile fish
魚類ぎょるい gyoruifish; fishes
熱帯魚ねったいぎょ nettaigyotropical fish
鮮魚せんぎょ sengyofresh fish
魚屋さかなや sakanayafish market; fish dealer
魚雷ぎょらい gyoraitorpedo
魚群ぎょぐん gyogunschool of fish; shoal of fish
魚市場うおいちば uoichibafish market

Most common first (JMdict).

Practice sheet

Print at 100%. Several kanji: worksheet maker.

Keep going

Same parts:

JLPT N4, in list order: