Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Animals & Wildlife

鯉: carp

JLPT N118 strokesName kanji (jinmeiyō)Your ink: 白 Not met

魚 carries the meaning · 里 is drawn in

18 strokes

One reading, and the words that use it

こいkoi · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 鯉こいcommon carp (Cyprinus carpio); koi carp
  • 錦鯉にしきごいcoloured carp; colored carp
  • 真鯉まごいblack carp; black koi

Also read リ, with no example words in our sources. Words: JMdict, EDRDG, CC BY-SA 4.0.

成り立ち

Where it comes from

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Watch the fish dart through the clear stream! The top stroke is the pointed head, the central box shows the shimmering scales of its body, and the dots at the bottom are the fins propelling it through the water.”
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
鯉 carp · 里
vs鮎 freshwater trout · 占
鯉 has 里 where 鮎 has 占.
In ChineseSimplified 鲤 · traditional, as in Japanese · lǐ

Japan keeps the traditional form 鯉; mainland China simplifies it to 鲤.

Simplified
鲤 mainland China, Singapore
Traditional
鯉 Taiwan, Hong Kong

Pinyin lǐ most common reading

Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.

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