鱿 (yóu): squid

Meanings

1 squid

Characters

鱿

yóu

squid

Examples

烤鱿鱼串是很受欢迎的小吃。

Kǎo yóuyú chuàn shì hěn shòu huānyíng de xiǎochī.

Grilled squid skewers are a popular street snack.

被解雇就叫炒鱿鱼。

Bèi jiěgù jiù jiào chǎoyóuyú.

If you get fired, it's called 'being made to roll up your squid'.

我想点一盘炒鱿鱼。

Wǒ xiǎng diǎn yì pán chǎo yóuyú.

I'd like to order a plate of stir-fried squid.

Tips

culture

Used only in 鱿鱼 ('squid'). The slang 炒鱿鱼 literally 'stir-fry squid' means 'to fire someone' or 'to get sacked', because squid curls up when fried, like rolling up your bedding to leave a job.

Components

radical

鱼 yú

fish

The fish radical on the left marks this as a sea creature; like many seafood words, the squid is written with the fish radical even though it is not a true fish.

phonetic

尤 yóu

especially; fault

Supplies the sound on the right: 尤 yóu gives the reading directly with no tone change. It contributes no meaning here.