How to Write 鲺 (shī) — Meaning “Fish louse”

Picture a fish (鱼) with a tiny louse (虱) clinging to its side, making the fish uncomfortable. The word "虱" sounds like "sheer" in English, so imagine a sheer terror for the fish as the louse bites.

The left side 鱼 is narrower and taller, while the right side 虱 is wider and shorter. A common mistake is making the right part too small or forgetting the small hook in the bottom of 虱 (the "虫" component needs its dot). Keep the strokes balanced: 8 strokes for 鱼 and 8 for 虱.

鲑 (guī) means "salmon" and has the phonetic 圭 on the right, while 鲒 (jié) means "clam" with 吉 on the right. In contrast, 鲺 (shī) uses 虱 (louse) to specify a parasite, not a type of fish or shellfish. Their pronunciations and meanings are unrelated despite sharing the fish radical.

鲺 is a technical term used mainly in aquaculture and fish farming, appearing in words like 鱼鲺 (fish lice) and 鲺病 (argulosis, the disease they cause). It is not common in daily conversation, so you will mostly see it in biology textbooks or veterinary contexts.

Common words containing 鲺 include: 鱼鲺 (yú shī) — Fish lice; 鲺病 (shī bìng) — Argulosis (fish louse disease); 寄生鲺 (jì shēng shī) — fish lice (parasite).