About
鳝 is a phono-semantic compound meaning "eel". Its left component, 鱼 (fish), provides the semantic category of aquatic animals, while the right component, 善 (shàn), supplies the pronunciation. The traditional form 鱔 uses the unsimplified 魚 radical with the same phonetic element. The character refers specifically to eel-like fish, most commonly the Asian swamp eel (Monopterus albus). It functions primarily as a concrete zoological term in biological and culinary contexts, without extended figurative meanings.
Etymology Hide
