えら
えら
noun
gills (of a fish)
1.
gills
The respiratory organs on the sides of fish (and some other aquatic animals) that allow them to extract oxygen from water.
魚はえらで呼吸する。
Fish breathe through their gills.
新しい魚はえらが赤い。
A fresh fish has red gills.
調理する前に、魚のえらと内臓をきれいに取り除いた。
Before cooking, I cleanly removed the fish's gills and innards.
Written in kanji as 鰓, but the kana form is more common in everyday writing. Used both literally for fish anatomy and metaphorically.
COMMON COLLOCATIONS:
- えらで呼吸する: to breathe through gills
- えらを取る: to remove the gills (in fish preparation)
- 赤いえら: red gills (a sign of freshness)
FIGURATIVE USE:
えらが張る can describe a person with a wide jaw or angular jawline (literally "the jaw/gill juts out"). In this use えら refers to the angle of the jaw, not the fish organ.