How to Write 鳓 (lè) — Meaning “Chinese herring”

Imagine a fish (鱼) that is being "lassoed" or "pulled" (like 勒 suggests a pulling action) because Chinese herring are often caught in nets. So you can think: "The fish (鱼) that gets pulled (勒) into the net — that's the herring (鳓)."

Notice that the left radical 鱼 (fish) has 8 strokes, and the right part 勒 has 11 strokes, totaling 19. When writing, keep the left side slightly narrower and the right side wider, and be careful that the bottom of 勒 (the 力 component) does not extend too far left. A common mistake is to misplace the dot in the fish radical or to forget the horizontal stroke inside the top of 勒.

鳓 (lè) means Chinese herring, while 鲼 (fèn) is a different fish (eagle ray) and 鲽 (dié) means flounder or flatfish. Visually, 鳓 has the right side 勒, 鲼 has the right side 贲, and 鲽 has the right side 枼. Each character's right component gives a clue to its pronunciation and distinguishes them from one another.

鳓 is used mainly in seafood contexts, especially in recipes like 鳓鱼 (lè yú, Chinese herring) and 咸鳓鱼 (salted Chinese herring). It is not a common character in daily conversation, but it appears in southern Chinese coastal cuisine, where the herring is prized for its flavor and often preserved by salting or drying.

Common words containing 鳓 include: 鳓鱼 (lè yú) — Chinese herring; 咸鳓鱼 (xián lè yú) — salted Chinese herring; 鲞鳓 (xiǎng lè) — Dried Chinese herring.