How to Write 鳗 (mán) — Meaning “eel”

Imagine a fish (鱼) that is so "man" (曼 sounds like "man") it can slither out of water like a snake. Or picture the right side 曼 as a man stretching his long arms, reminding you of the eel’s long body.

The left radical 鱼 is narrow and has a standard fish shape — make sure the top hook and bottom horizontal are clear. The right side 曼 has many strokes: start with 日 (sun), then add 又 (again), and finally 冂 with 一? Actually 曼 is 日+冖+又? Be careful to write the upper 日 compact and the lower 又 balanced. A common mistake is making the right side too wide or forgetting the dot? No dot — just follow the stroke order.

鳗 means eel and has the right side 曼, which is visually complex with many strokes. 鲼 (stingray) has right side 贲 (bēn) and 鲽 (flatfish) has right side 枼 (yè). The meanings are different: eel is long and round, while stingray is flat and wide, and flatfish is also flat like a plate.

鳗 appears mostly in food contexts, such as 鳗鱼 (eel) in menus for grilled eel dishes (烤鳗) or sea eel (海鳗). It is not a common character in daily conversation, but you will see it in Japanese and Chinese restaurants, especially for unagi sushi or eel rice bowls.

Common words containing 鳗 include: 鳗鱼 (mán yú) — eel; 烤鳗 (kǎo mán) — Grilled eel; 海鳗 (hǎi mán) — Sea eel.