“Tame Migraine the Delicious Way“.
The Chinese word for fish is 鱼 (yú).
Most of the Chinese words containing the fish radical are names of various kinds of fish:
鲨鱼 (shāyú) shark
鲑魚 (guīyú) salmon, also called 三文鱼 (sānwènyú)
鲤鱼 (lǐyú) carp
鳗鱼 (mányú) eel
鲣鱼 (jiānyú) bonito
鲟鱼(xúnyú) sturgeon
鳟鱼 (zūnyú) trout
鳕鱼 (xuěyú) cod
鲸鱼 (jīngyú whales) are mammals, not fish. Neither are 鲍鱼 (bàoyú abalone) and 鱿鱼 (yóuyú squids, or calamari in Italian). And of course, neither are mermaids, or 美人鱼 (měirényú), which the Chinese dubbed “beauty fish”.
鱼鳍 (yú qí) are fins.
鲜 (xiān) or 新鲜 (xīnxiān ) means fresh. 鲜美 (xiānměi) means delicious or tasty.
鲁 (Lǔ) is a Chinese surname. 鲁莽 (lǔmǎng) means rash.
What other Chinese words sound like 鱼 (yú)? Here are a few common ones:
With a water radical added, 渔 relates to fishing. Therefore, the fisherman is called 渔夫 (yúfū).
于 corresponds to the English preposition “to”, “at” or “about”. 至于 (zhìyú) means “as for”. 关于 (guānyú) means “with respect to” or “relating to”. 等于 (děngyú) means “equal to”.
芋 is taro, a root vegetable.
余 has a few different meanings. It is a Chinese surname. It could also mean a surplus. This is why the Chinese customarily serve fish on the last day of the lunar year. They usually make sure there is some leftover of this dish for them to enjoy on the first day of the new year.
年年有余.
Nián nián yǒuyú.
Have a surplus every year.
In formal Chinese, 余 means “I”. In formal/classical written Chinese, 余 means “I”. 吾 (wú) also means “I” in formal/classical written Chinese. The great Confucius said:
吾日三省吾身.
Wú rì sān xǐngwú shēn.
Daily I reflect on myself in three respects.
为人谋而不忠乎？
Wéirén móu ér bù zhōng hū?
Have I failed to be loyal to the people I work for?
与朋友交而不信乎？
Yǔ péngyǒu jiāo ér bùxìn hū?
Did I fail to keep my words in dealing with my friends?
传不习乎？
Chuán bù xí hū?
Did I fail to review the material that I have been taught?
I believe, by saying so, Confucius was encouraging his students to follow his example.
愚 means foolish or a fool. In Chinese, April Fools Day is 愚人节 (yúrén jié).
娱 means to have fun. The Chinese word for entertainment is 娱乐 (yúlè).
愉 means joy or joyful, as in 愉快 (yúkuài).
腴 means plump or fertile. It connotes fattiness, as in丰腴 (fēngyú).
谀 means to flatter or flattery, as in 阿谀 (ēyú).
盂 is a bowl, such as a spittoon, or 痰盂 (tányú).
隅 is a corner. Confucius said, “If I show the student one corner of a rectangular room, and he is unable to figure out that the other three corners are similar to it, then he is not worth teaching.” In classical Chinese, this is worded as follows:
举一隅不以三隅反, 则不复也.
Jǔ yīyú bù yǐ sānyú fǎn, zé bù fù yě.
Yeah, it would be impossible for the instructor to teach the student every single detail of a subject matter. A good student would be able to judiciously apply what was taught in one case to other similar cases or situations. I hope you’ve had a successful year learning Chinese.
Attention: I just read a comment posted by C Jordan for the “Learn Chinese through Songs and Rhymes” book on amazon.com, which informed me that Mac users are unable to download the associated audio files from the Microsoft One Drive. Therefore, I’ve copied the files to my Google Drive. You can find the link to that folder by clicking on the “Learn Chinese through Songs and Rhymes” tab at the top of this blog site. Thank you C Jordan for bringing this issue to my attention.
圣诞平安, 新年快乐!
Shèngdàn píng’ān, xīnnián kuàilè!
Peaceful and Safe Christmas, Happy New Year!
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