Chinese symbol for “catfish”
鲶鱼
nián yú
Traditional: 鯰魚
catfish
The closest CC-CEDICT match for catfish is 鲶鱼 (nián yú), defined as: catfish.
Before using these characters for a tattoo, check them with a native speaker. Dictionary words often have several meanings, and the right choice depends on context.
Characters and stroke order
Traditional forms
Other Chinese words for “catfish”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 塘虱 | táng shī | catfish (family Clariidae) |
| 魸 | piàn | catfish |
| 𬶍 (鮀) | tuó | catfish; a kind of small fish |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 鲶鱼.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 鱼类 (魚類) | yú lèi | fishes |
| 鲨鱼 (鯊魚) | shā yú | shark |
| 钓鱼 (釣魚) | diào yú | to fish (with line and hook); to angle; (fig.) to entrap |
| 捕鱼 (捕魚) | bǔ yú | to catch fish; to fish |
| 鱼雷 (魚雷) | yú léi | torpedo |
| 鳄鱼 (鱷魚) | è yú | alligator; crocodile (条 (tiáo)) |
See also: Japanese symbol for “catfish”.
Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3); Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License (graphics.txt); LGPL-3.0-or-later (dictionary.txt)); wordfreq (CC BY-SA 4.0 (data)). Retrieved 2026-10-22.