Meaning:

fish

Origin:

甲骨文中的“鱼”，字形为一条直立的鱼，头朝上，尾朝下。头、身、鳞、鳍俱全。后来鱼身的图案被拉直为笔画，鱼尾变为四点，而在简体字中，鱼尾则由一横代替。“鱼”和“余”发音相同，有鱼（余）说明生活富裕，中国春节的年夜饭一定要有鱼，象征“年年有余”。

In the oracle bone inscription, the character “鱼” is the image of a fish upstanding, with the head upwards and the tail downwards, It has head, body, scale and fins. Later the pattern on the fish body turned to be strokes, and the tail became four dots. The simplified version of the character “鱼” is even changed the four dots into a horizontal line. As “鱼” is homophonous with “余(yú)”, which means prosperity. So in the family reunion dinner on the Spring Festival’s Eve, fish is one of the dishes to represent abundance.

Words:

   如鱼得水 (rú yú dé shuǐ) ：feel just like dish in water

   鱼龙混杂 (yú lóng hùn zá) ：dragons and fishes jumbled together. i.e. good and bad people mixed up.

  鱼子酱    (yúzǐjiàng)： caviar

   钓鱼       (diàoyú) ：fishing

   鱼竿       (yúgān) ： fishing rod

   鱼刺       (yúcì)   ：fishbone

Examples:

1. 我爱北京，因为我在这里如鱼得水。

    Wǒ ài Běijīng, yīnwéi wǒ zài zhèlǐ rú yú dé shuǐ.

    I love Beijing because I live here just like a fish in water.

2. 他吃不起鱼酱。

    Tā chībùqǐ yúzǐjiàng

    He could not afford caviar.

3. 今天我和爸爸去钓鱼了。

    Jīntiān wǒ hé bàba qù diàoyú le

    I went fishing with Dad today.