How to Write 鲛 (jiāo) — Meaning “Shark”

Imagine a shark (鱼) that uses its fins to "hand over" (交) its catch to another shark. This picture combines the fish radical with the sound component 交 to help you recall both the meaning and pronunciation.

Pay attention to the right side 交: it has six strokes written as dot, horizontal, left-falling, dot, left-falling, right-falling. A common mistake is to write 交 with incorrect stroke order or to make the left fish radical too wide; keep 鱼 narrow and 交 balanced.

鲛 (shark) has the component 交 on the right, while 鱿 (squid) has 尤 on the right. 鲁 is written with 鱼 on top and 日 below, and means "crude" or is a surname — it is not a fish name. Their pronunciations are also different: jiāo, yóu, and lǔ.

Today 鲛 is less common than 鲨 for "shark," but it appears in classical texts and mythology, such as 鲛人 (merfolk) said to weave silk and weep pearls. It is also used in words like 鲛皮 (sharkskin) for traditional leather products.

Common words containing 鲛 include: 鲛鱼 (jiāo yú) — Shark; 鲛人 (jiāo rén) — Merfolk (mythical creatures); 鲛皮 (jiāo pí) — Sharkskin.