noun
minnow; shiner
Refers to small freshwater fish of the minnow family, especially the pale chub or similar species. The reading はや is standard; はえ and はい are dialectal or older variants.
川で鮠を釣った。
I caught a minnow in the river.
この辺りの小川には鮠がたくさんいる。
There are many minnows in the streams around here.
Kana spelling is common in everyday writing, especially when the kanji is not well known.
Outdated kanji form; rarely used in modern Japanese.
The origin is uncertain. The word is native Japanese, and the kanji 鮠 and 鰷 are Chinese characters assigned to this fish.