About
The character 鲣, traditional form 鰹, is a phono-semantic compound. Its semantic component is the fish radical 鱼 (simplified from 魚), indicating a category of aquatic life. The phonetic component is 坚 (simplified from 堅), which guides the pronunciation. Together, they specify the bonito, a medium-sized marine fish valued as food. The simplification to 鲣 reduced the stroke count of both radicals while preserving the original semantic and phonetic logic, with the character functioning as a precise biological noun.