How to Say "Whale" in Chinese

鲸鱼

jīngyú

The English word "whale" is translated into Chinese as 鲸鱼 (jīngyú).

鲸鱼 is a noun used to refer to the large sea mammals. For example, 蓝鲸 refers to a blue whale and 抹香鲸 refers to a sperm whale.

Meaning: large sea mammal (noun)

What does it mean word for word?

The word 鲸鱼 is composed of 鲸 (jīng), meaning whale or cetacean and 鱼 (yú), meaning fish.

When counting whales in Chinese, use the classifier 条 (tiáo) rather than the general classifier 个 (gè).

jīngyú

The character 鲸 includes the radical for 'fish' on the left side, meaning that even the single character for 'whale' is visually categorized as a fish in the written language.
In Chinese internet slang, the term 鲸鱼 is sometimes used in 'whale' related contexts to refer to high-spending players in gacha games, similar to the English slang term 'whale'.
The classifier 条 (tiáo) used for whales is typically reserved for long, thin, flexible objects like rivers, roads, or snakes, reflecting the animal's streamlined shape.

你见过鲸鱼吗？
Have you ever seen a whale?
This sentence shows how to ask if someone has seen a 鲸鱼.
Tatoeba #471037 by fucongcong, translation #69421 by CK
鲸鱼是哺乳动物。
A whale is a mammal.
This sentence is useful for stating that a 鲸鱼 is a mammal.
Tatoeba #782150 by fucongcong, translation #238461 by CK
我从没见过一条那么大的鲸鱼。
I never saw so big a whale.
This sentence demonstrates how to describe the size of a 鲸鱼.
Tatoeba #466066 by fucongcong, translation #975338 by sacredceltic
这本书介绍了鲸鱼的各个品种。
This book introduces various species of whales.
鲸鱼是世界上最大的哺乳动物。
Whales are the largest mammals in the world.
咁大隻鯨魚真係好罕見！
Such a large whale is really rare!
這間博物館有一個巨型鯨魚模型。
This museum has a giant whale model.
2 more sentences on Tatoeba

At an aquarium, watching a large tank.

梓涵 Zihan

那条鲸鱼真漂亮。
Nà tiáo jīngyú zhēn piàoliang.
That whale is truly beautiful.
浩然 Haoran

是的，它非常巨大。
Shì de, tā fēicháng jùdà.
Yes, it is very huge.
梓涵 Zihan

你想看鲸鱼表演吗？
Nǐ xiǎng kàn jīngyú biǎoyǎn ma?
Do you want to see the whale show?
浩然 Haoran

好啊，我们走吧。
Hǎo a, wǒmen zǒu ba.
Sure, let's go.

Sources

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