鲁鱼亥豕
lǔ yú hài shǐ
miscopied characters; errors in a text from look-alike characters
Character by character
鲁lǔ
Lu
Lu
鱼yú
fish
fish
亥hài
hai (branch)
hai (branch)
豕shǐ
pig
pig
Example
这部古籍被人抄了又抄，鲁鱼亥豕的地方不少，读的时候要对照好的版本。
This old book was copied over and over, so it is full of miscopied characters, and you need to check it against a good edition as you read.
Tone: neutral.
Usage and origin
鲁 and 鱼, 亥 and 豕 looked alike in old script. 《抱朴子》 says that a book copied three times turns 鱼 into 鲁; 《吕氏春秋》 tells how 子夏 corrected “三豕涉河” (three pigs crossed the river) to “己亥涉河” (crossed the river on the day jihai). Bookish: of typos and copying errors in books.
Learn this in Lesson 254 · HSK 9+: 一本书的诞生 (How a book is made)
A dialogue, a reading, word cards with audio and a drill that uses it, in Learn Chinese with Bao. The first lessons of every level are free.
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