鳞 (lín): scale (of a fish or reptile)

Meanings

1 scale (of a fish or reptile)
2 anything resembling scales

Characters

鳞

lín

scale (of fish or reptile)

Examples

鱼身上的鳞闪着银光。

Yú shēnshang de lín shǎn zhe yín guāng.

The scales on the fish shimmered with a silver glow.

这条蛇脱去了旧的鳞，换上了新的。

Zhè tiáo shé tuō qù le jiù de lín, huànshang le xīn de.

This snake shed its old scales and grew new ones.

Tips

memory

The character 鳞 contains 鱼 (fish) at the bottom, reminding you it relates to fish scales. The top component 粦 provides the sound.

Components

radical

鱼 yú

fish (radical)

Left fish radical — the indexing radical, anchoring 鳞 in the aquatic family with 鲜 fresh, 鲤 carp, 鲨 shark. Pictures a fish viewed from the side. Here it marks the most visible feature of a fish: the overlapping plates of skin that flash silver as it turns.

phonetic

粦 lín

phosphorus glow (here phonetic)

Right 粦 supplies the sound, an exact match. Same phonetic powers 邻 neighbour, 麟 unicorn, 磷 phosphorus, 怜 to pity. The original sense of 粦 was a glimmering will-o'-the-wisp — a faint visual echo here in the iridescent shimmer of fish scales catching light.