‘鱼肉’ literally means ‘fish meat’ and refers to the edible flesh of fish—what English speakers commonly call ‘fish’ as food. The first character 鱼 (yú) means ‘fish’, and the second 肉 (ròu) means ‘meat’ or ‘flesh’. Together, they form a compound noun specifying the culinary part of the animal, not the whole living creature. Unlike English, where ‘fish’ serves both as the animal and the food, Chinese often distinguishes them: 鱼 refers to the live or whole animal, while 鱼肉 specifically denotes the prepared or consumable flesh.

This term is widely used in cooking contexts, food labeling, nutrition discussions, and market settings. It appears in dishes like 鱼肉丸子 (fish meatballs) or 鱼肉馅饺子 (dumplings with fish meat filling). Note that 鱼肉 is uncountable in Chinese and doesn’t take measure words like 条 or 只—those apply only to whole fish. It’s neutral in register and appropriate for everyday speech, recipes, and health-related texts.