鳄

鱷
è
noun #12,078

Measure Word

一条鳄 tiáo

Meanings

  1. 1 crocodile
  2. 2 alligator

Examples

HSK 4
Èyú shì yī zhǒng wēixiǎn de dòngwù.
Crocodiles are a dangerous animal.
HSK 6
Tā mǎi le yígè èyú pí de qiánbāo.
He bought a crocodile leather wallet.

Tips

usage
鳄 is a bound form - it almost always appears as 鳄鱼 (crocodile/alligator). The idiom 鳄鱼眼泪 means 'crocodile tears' (fake sympathy).

Components

radical
鱼 yú
fish
Left fish radical - the indexing radical. Pictograph of a fish with head, body and tail; the four dots of 魚 became a single horizontal in simplified 鱼. Anchors 鳄 in the aquatic-animal family with 鲨 shark, 鲸 whale, 鳗 eel. Crocodiles are filed under 'fish' by traditional Chinese classification.
phonetic
咢 è
to startle; clamor
Right 咢 (two mouths over a roof and 亏) supplies the sound è (exact match). Same phonetic family: 鳄, 锷 sword edge, 颚 jaw, 萼 calyx. Faint semantic flavor - the snapping jaws of a crocodile match the 'open-mouthed startle' image of 咢. Rare standalone; mostly survives as this phonetic component.

Stroke Order

鳄 è