鳗鱼是如何繁殖的？揭开神秘生命周期

What does “繁殖 (fanzhi)” mean in Chinese?

The age-old riddle in this video is 鳗鱼是如何繁殖的? (“How do eels reproduce?”). The key verb is 繁殖 (fánzhí), “to reproduce or breed.” For centuries no one found an eel’s eggs, so even Aristotle and others invented wild origin stories. 繁 (fán) means “numerous, to multiply,” and 殖 (zhí) means “to propagate.”

The word is everywhere in biology and beyond: 繁衍 (to multiply, proliferate), 殖民 (to colonise), and the more clinical 生殖 (reproduction, as in 生殖器官, reproductive organs). The clip also names the 鳗鱼 (mányú), the eel, familiar to many as the 鳗鱼饭 (unagi rice) on a Japanese menu. Learn 繁殖 and you can follow any Chinese nature documentary.