魚

Primary sense: fish and general aquatic creatures. In descriptive or attributive contexts, it may denote a "fish-scale" pattern (魚鱗) or overlapping plates in objects such as armor or clothing, as well as fluid or slippery movement. In specialized technical domains—specifically astronomy, divination, and alchemy—it can refer to symbolic elements or specific constellations. Due to homophony with 餘/余 (yú), literary references often carry a connotative subtext of abundance or prosperity.

Functions primarily as a concrete noun. Also serves as an attributive modifier to indicate material ("made of fish") or shape ("fish-shaped").

Tang-period reading: *ngiu; Fanqie reading: 語居. The glyph is stable across classical periods. The simplified variant (鱼, U+9C7C) is a modern development and does not impact the translation of ancient texts.

Action associated with the glyph (such as swimming or slipping) is usually implicit; translators should look to the accompanying verb to determine if the fish is being treated as food, livestock, or a biological specimen.