鰈

鰈 (Kangxi radical 195, 魚+9, 20 strokes, cangjie input 弓火心廿木 (NFPTD), four-corner 2439₄, composition ⿰魚枼)

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1474, character 24
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 46322
• Dae Jaweon: page 2006, character 16
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 7, page 4700, character 2
• Unihan data for U+9C08

Possibly a phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *l̥ʰaːb, *l'eːb) : semantic 魚 (“fish”) + phonetic 枼 (OC *leb). Another explanation is that it is an ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) : semantic 魚 (“fish”) + semantic 枼 (“flat, wide, thin”). It is possible that the two interpretations influenced each other.

鰈

1. righteye flounder

(uncommon “Hyōgai” kanji)

• Go-on: じょう (jō)^{←でふ (defu, historical)}; とう (tō)^{←たふ (tafu, historical)}
• Kan-on: ちょう (chō)^{←てふ (tefu, historical)}; とう (tō)^{←たふ (tafu, historical)}
• Kun: かれい (karei, 鰈)^{←かれひ (karefi, 鰈, historical)}

• 鰈川(かれがわ) (Karegawa)

/kara eɸi/ → /kareɸi/ → /karewi/ → /karei/

Originally from a shift of 王余魚 (kara-ei) attested in the Honzō Wamyō, itself a compound of 韓 (Kara, “Korea”, euphemism) +‎ 鱝 (ei, “[a kind of] ray”); it is said that the flounder was imported from Korea to Japan in the Samhan period, and was regarded to the Koreans at that time as “beautiful”. From its ray-like appearance, the medieval Japanese had mistaken the flounder for such. (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

• (Tokyo) か​れー [káꜜrèè] (Atamadaka – [1])[1][2][3]
• IPA^(key): [ka̠ɾe̞ː]

鰈(かれい) • (karei) ^{←かれひ (karefi)?}

1. a righteye flounder (flatfish of the family Pleuronectidae)
   • 938, Minamoto no Shitagō, Wamyō Ruijushō, volume 8:

     王餘魚 朱厓記云：南海有_二王餘魚_一［和名：加良衣比、俗_二云：加禮比_一］昔、越王作_レ鱠不_レ盡餘半棄_レ水因以_二半身_一爲_レ魚、故曰_二王餘魚_一也

     Righteye flounder (literally “king-remaining fish”): according to the Zhūyá chronicle, at the southern sea there exists a righteye flounder (Japanese name kara-ei, commonly said karei); long ago, the king of Yuè had not completely made kuài and discarded half of the remaining into the water; as a result half of his body turned into a fish, hence the name.

   • 1603–1604, Nippo Jisho:

     Care^[sic]. Linguado. Vide, Carei.

     Carei. Linguado. No Cami ʃe diz Care.

     Kare: flounder, see Karei.

     Karei: flounder, read also as Kare above.

2. (rare, obsolete) Synonym of 舌鮃 (shitabirame): a sole (flatfish of the family Soleidae)

• As with many terms that name organisms, this term is often spelled in katakana, especially in biological contexts (where katakana is customary), as カレイ.

• 左鮃右鰈(ひだりひらめみぎかれい) (hidari hirame migi karei)

• 鮃(ヒラメ) (hirame, “olive flounder”)
• 牛(うし)の舌(した) (ushinoshita, “tonguefish”)

鰈 • (jeop) (hangeul 접, revised jeop, McCune–Reischauer chŏp, Yale cep)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.