Meet 魚 in everyday words: its meaning here is fish. Learn each word with its own reading.

The idea

魚 has 11 strokes. Follow the linked stroke-order diagram. 魚 is read さかな and means fish; 魚屋 is read さかなや and means fish shop. 金魚 is read きんぎょ: goldfish.

Patterns to compare
Japanese wordReadingMeaning
魚さかなfish
魚屋さかなやfish shop
金魚きんぎょgoldfish

Examples

  • 魚さかなは水みずの中なかにいます。The fish is in the water.
  • この魚さかなは小ちいさいです。This fish is small.
  • 今日きょうは魚さかなを食たべます。I will eat fish today.
  • 母ははは魚さかなが好すきです。My mother likes fish.
  • 魚屋さかなやで魚さかなを買かいます。I buy fish at the fish shop.
  • 金魚きんぎょは赤あかいです。The goldfish is red.

Read-aloud uses a synthetic Japanese voice available on your device. Voice quality and availability vary; it does not assess your pronunciation.

Watch out

Compare 魚 with 鳥; notice their different parts and strokes rather than guessing from the overall shape. 魚 is さかな in the ordinary word, but 魚 is read ぎょ in 金魚. Learn the readings with whole words.

Try it yourself

  1. Write the reading of 魚 in hiragana.

    Show answer or example answer

    さかな

    魚 is read さかな; it means fish. Remember the reading with the whole word.

  2. Write the reading of 魚屋 in hiragana.

    Show answer or example answer

    さかなや

    魚屋 is read さかなや; it means fish shop. Remember the reading with the whole word.

  3. Write きんぎょ in kanji for “goldfish”.

    Show answer or example answer

    金魚

    金魚 is written with 魚 and read きんぎょ; it means goldfish.

Use it today

Write 魚 three times using the linked stroke order. Cover the table, read 魚 and 魚屋, and make a sentence with one of them.