How to Write 鲭 (qīng) — Meaning “Mackerel”

Picture a blue-green (青) fish (鱼) swimming in the ocean — that's a mackerel, since mackerel often have a greenish-blue back. So remember: the "blue fish" is 鲭.

The left radical 鱼 has a short horizontal stroke at the bottom that should not touch the vertical stroke. On the right, 青 has a vertical stroke in the upper part that must cross through the three horizontal strokes cleanly. Keep the character balanced so the right side is not too tall.

鲭 (qīng) specifically means mackerel, 鲑 (guī) means salmon, and 鲒 (jié) is a type of clam or ancient fish name. Visually, 鲭 has 青 on the right, 鲑 has 圭 (a double-earth symbol), and 鲒 has 吉 (meaning lucky). Each uses a different phonetic component.

鲭 is most often used in the word 鲭鱼 (qīng yú) meaning mackerel, a common food fish. You'll see it on menus in dishes like 烤鲭鱼 (grilled mackerel) or 咸鲭鱼 (salted mackerel). It's not a frequent character in daily conversation but appears regularly in seafood contexts.

Common words containing 鲭 include: 鲭鱼 (qīng yú) — Mackerel; 烤鲭鱼 (kǎo qīng yú) — Grilled mackerel; 咸鲭鱼 (xián qīng yú) — salted mackerel.