鱿 meaning and stroke order
Cuttlefish
How to write 鱿, stroke by stroke
12 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
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Meaning of 鱿
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- (bound form) squid
How 鱿 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Fish.
鱼 gives the meaning and 尤 hints at the sound.
Radical: 鱼 (fish), shared by 79 characters on this site.
How to remember 鱿
鱿 combines 鱼 (yú, fish) on the left for meaning with 尤 (yóu) on the right for sound. Picture a sea creature filed under fish that says its name, yóu.
鱿 is a bound form, so it almost always appears in the word 鱿鱼 (yóuyú, squid). It shows up on menus and in the slang 炒鱿鱼 (chǎoyóuyú), meaning to fire someone. Example: 老板把他炒鱿鱼了。(Lǎobǎn bǎ tā chǎoyóuyú le.) The boss fired him.
Common mistake: Learners often write the right side as 龙 (lóng) or 犬 because the shapes look alike, but 尤 has no extra dot on top and its hook bends to the right. Also, 鱿 is not used alone to mean squid, so say 鱿鱼 rather than just 鱿.
Common words with 鱿
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
鱿 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 鱿
How many strokes are in 鱿?
鱿 is written with 12 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 鱿 mean?
鱿 (yóu) means cuttlefish. A common word with it is 鱿鱼 (yóuyú), meaning "squid".
How do you pronounce 鱿?
鱿 is pronounced yóu, in the second tone (rising).
What is the radical of 鱿?
The radical of 鱿 is 鱼, which carries the idea of "fish". Dictionaries list 鱿 under this radical.
What is the traditional form of 鱿?
The traditional form of 鱿 is 魷. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 鱿 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.
Why does 炒鱿鱼 mean to fire someone?
When squid is stir-fried (炒, chǎo), it curls up into a roll. This looks like a worker rolling up their bedding to leave, so the phrase came to mean being dismissed from a job.
Is 鱿鱼 the same as cuttlefish or octopus?
Not exactly. 鱿鱼 usually means squid, while cuttlefish is often called 墨鱼 (mòyú) and octopus is 章鱼 (zhāngyú).