Chinese symbol for “eel”
鳗鱼
mán yú
Traditional: 鰻魚
eel
The closest CC-CEDICT match for eel is 鳗鱼 (mán yú), defined as: eel.
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 “eel”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 鳗 (鰻) | mán | (bound form) eel (Anguilla japonica) |
| 鳗鲡 (鰻鱺) | mán lí | eel; Japanese freshwater eel (Anguilla japonica) |
| 鳝鱼 (鱔魚) | shàn yú | eel |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 鳗鱼.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 鳗鲡 (鰻鱺) | mán lí | eel; Japanese freshwater eel (Anguilla japonica) |
| 电鳗 (電鰻) | diàn mán | electric eel |
| 七鳃鳗 (七鰓鰻) | qī sāi mán | lamprey (jawless proto-fish of family Petromyzontidae) |
| 八目鳗 (八目鰻) | bā mù mán | lamprey (jawless proto-fish of family Petromyzontidae) |
| 盲鳗 (盲鰻) | máng mán | hagfish (jawless proto-fish of class Myxini) |
| 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 |
See also: Japanese symbol for “eel”.
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.