Meanings
nounwooden fish (plural wooden fishes or wooden fish)
plural wooden fishes
- A wooden percussion instrument played by monks and lay people in the Mahayana Buddhist tradition in China, Japan, Korea and other East Asian countries.
Origin
Calque from Chinese 木魚／木鱼 (mùyú).
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian дървена риба
- дървена риба (dărvena riba)percussion instrument
Catalan mokugyo
- mokugyopercussion instrument
Chinese Mandarin 木魚 /木鱼
- 木魚 /木鱼 (mùyú)percussion instrument
Finnish puukala
- puukalapercussion instrument
French mokugyo
- mokugyopercussion instrument
German Holzfisch
- Holzfischpercussion instrument
Hungarian mokugjo
- mokugjopercussion instrument
Indonesian ikan kayu, muyu
- ikan kayupercussion instrument
- muyupercussion instrument
- blok kuil Tionghoapercussion instrument
Italian muyu
- muyupercussion instrument
Japanese 木魚
- 木魚 (mokugyo)percussion instrument
Korean 목어, 목탁
- 목어 (mogeo)percussion instrument
- 목탁 (moktak)percussion instrument
Norwegian muyu
- muyupercussion instrument
Polish mokugyo
- mokugyopercussion instrument
Russian деревянная рыба
- деревянная рыба (derevjannaja ryba)percussion instrument
Spanish mokugyo, pez de madera
- mokugyopercussion instrument
- pez de maderapercussion instrument
Swedish muyu
- muyupercussion instrument
Thai ปลาไม้, มู่-ยฺหวี
- ปลาไม้percussion instrument
- มู่-ยฺหวีpercussion instrument
Vietnamese mõ, mộc ngư
- mõpercussion instrument
- mộc ngưpercussion instrument
Cite this entry
APA
wooden fish. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wooden%20fish
MLA
“wooden fish.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wooden%20fish. Accessed November 5, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “wooden fish,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wooden%20fish.
Source: wooden fish on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.