鲛

鮫
jiāo
noun #46,158

Meanings

  1. 1 a shark (literary / classical name)

Examples

HSK 4
Zhèzhǒng jiāo shēnghuó zài shēnhǎi lǐ.
This kind of shark lives deep in the ocean.
HSK 6
Gǔshū shuō jiāorén de yǎnlèi huì biànchéng zhēnzhū.
Old books say mermaids could weave silk that turned to pearls when they wept.

Tips

culture
鲛 is the old literary word for 'shark'; the everyday word is 鲨鱼. It is famous through 鲛人, the Chinese 'mermaid' whose tears were said to become pearls.

Components

radical
鱼 yú
fish
鱼 is the fish radical, here in left-side form. It marks 鲛 as a kind of fish, the shark.
phonetic
交 jiāo
to cross; to exchange
交 supplies the exact sound jiāo. Its meaning 'to cross' is unrelated; it works only as the phonetic beside the fish radical.

Stroke Order

鲛 jiāo