also: しゃけ
Broad term for salmon species, especially in culinary or everyday contexts. Often refers to chum salmon when unspecified.
For dinner today, I'm grilling and eating salmon.
Tonight's dinner is grilled salted salmon.
In Hokkaido, salmon swim up the rivers in autumn.
chum salmon; dog salmon
Specifically Oncorhynchus keta, the most common salmon species in Japan. Often implied by the general term 鮭.
Most of the salmon caught in this river are chum salmon.
When autumn comes, the salmon swim upstream in the river.
My father goes salmon fishing every autumn.
鮭 (salmon) and マス (trout) are closely related fish that learners often mix up, though they are distinct species with different names.
酒 (alcohol) and 鮭 (salmon) are pronounced identically as さけ but are completely unrelated in meaning, distinguished only by context and kanji.
Standard kanji spelling; high-frequency in news and common usage.
Katakana spelling, common in biological contexts or menus.
Common kana spelling, especially in everyday writing or for learners.
Katakana spelling for the colloquial reading しゃけ.
Colloquial variant reading; often used in casual speech, especially in eastern Japan.
A native Japanese word of uncertain origin. 鮭 is an ancient Chinese character later adopted to write Japanese さけ.
Atlantic salmon
chazuke with salmon