Fish-tail character

By itself, it means “fish tail.” As of 2026, the Taiwan Ministry of Education's character entry says 魩 is not recorded in the Shuowen Jiezi, an early Chinese dictionary; it cites the Jiyun as the earliest dictionary source for this meaning and lists later fish-character dictionaries too.

魩 combines 魚, the fish-related meaning component, with 勿, the sound component. It is built from parts; its shape is not a picture of a fish tail.

Why does 魩仔魚 mean whitebait?

In Taiwan Hokkien, it names edible fish fry. The Taiwanese Hokkien dictionary defines 魩仔魚 as young fish of several edible sea species and gives 魩仔魚羹, a fish-fry soup, as an example.

Taiwan's Fisheries Agency uses 魩 and 鱙 for two stages: 魩 marks larval fish, while 鱙 marks juvenile fish. Its report discusses the coastal 魩鱙 fishery in Taiwan and Japan; 魩仔魚 itself is a Taiwan Hokkien term.

Why is 魩仔魚 also written 吻仔魚?

吻仔魚 is a documented substitute spelling in Taiwan. A 2010 Taiwan language explainer says the rarer 魩 was inconvenient to enter and records 吻仔魚 as its replacement. In a food context, both spellings refer to the same whitebait term.