also: こけ · こけら
Refers to the individual protective plates on fish, reptiles, and similar animals. Common in everyday language.
I remove the fish scales before cooking.
Snake scales are dry and smooth.
serif (on kana or kanji)
Typography term for the small decorative strokes at the ends of character lines, especially in Mincho-style fonts. Often contrasted with sans-serif (ゴシック体).
Characters in Mincho font have serifs.
This font has pronounced serifs and is easy to read.
I scale the fish with a kitchen knife.
Mincho-style characters have serifs.
The fish's scales glisten in the sunlight.
鱗 can also be read こけ (an old reading for scale/shingle), which is easily confused with 苔 (こけ, moss) despite the two words having completely different meanings.
Fish or snake scales (鱗) are counted with 枚 because each scale is thin and flat.
Standard kanji spelling. High priority in news and common vocabulary lists.
Rare reading, mostly found in old or specialized texts.
Rare reading, mostly found in old or specialized texts.
Kana spelling is common and often preferred in everyday writing.
Katakana spelling used for emphasis or in informal contexts.
The origin is uncertain. The kanji 鱗 is a phono-semantic compound, but the Japanese reading うろこ is native and its derivation is unclear.