Yes, whale is unbelievably big!

Each kanji has “radical”.
“Radical” of kanji is standard for classification kanji.

For example, kanji with radical “月” usually describe body parts.
Like 腕(arm) 腸(bowel) 胸(breast) 肌(skin) 肺(lung).
Kanji with radical “木” usually describe something regarding wood.
Like 枝(branch) 杉(Japanese cedar) 柱(pillar) 机(desk) 林(wood).

There is kanji “魚”.
It’s “sakana”, the meaning is fish.
Also this kanji is used as radical.
The kanji with radical “魚” usually describe name of fish.
In my dictionary, there are 73 kanji with radical “魚”.
The reason/history of each kanji is interesting…

鰯 iwashi : sardine
魚 (fish) ＋ 弱 (weak)
Sardines are eaten by big fish very easily.
Also they go bad quickly.

鯨 kujira : whale
魚 (fish)＋京 (1,000,000,000,000×10,000)
Unbelievably big fish
(京 is a unit for counting)

鮫 same : shark
魚 (fish) ＋ 交 (cross)
Sharks copulate (have sex) unlike other fish.

鯖 saba : mackerel
魚 (fish) ＋ 青 (blue)
The back part’s color is blue.

鱈 tara : cod
魚 (fish) ＋ 雪 (snow)
Cods come in when it’s the season of snowing.
The fish is white like snow.


One more kanji with “魚”.


鮨 sushi : sushi
魚 (fish) ＋ 旨 (delicious)
Sushi is delicious!!