鲠 (gěng): fish bone

Meanings

1 fish bone
2 to choke on a fish bone
3 (of speech) blunt and upright

Characters

鲠

gěng

fish bone; to choke on a bone

Examples

我如骨鲠在喉，不吐不快。

Wǒ rú gǔ gěng zài hóu, bù tǔ bù kuài.

It felt like a fish bone stuck in my throat — I had to speak out.

他是个鲠直敢谏的官。

Tā shì gè gěngzhí gǎn jiàn de guān.

He was an upright, blunt official who dared to give direct counsel.

Tips

usage

Best known from 骨鲠在喉 ('a bone stuck in the throat') — being unable to hold back what must be said. By extension 鲠直 describes someone blunt and morally upright.

Components

radical

鱼 yú

fish

Left side is the fish radical 鱼, fitting since the core sense is a fish bone (or choking on one). The traditional form 鯁 uses the fuller fish graph 魚.

phonetic

更 gēng

to change; further

Right side 更 supplies the sound; the reading shifts tone from 更 to 鲠.