Kujira

[Akuma]

This question is painfully specific, but I think it would be nice to know as a tidbit. Kujira (鯨) means "whale" in Japanese, but individually, the first kanji means fish, whereas the second one means either "capital" or "archery."

How does that work out? Does whale literally mean "capital fish" as in it's the most important? Or does it mean "archery fish" which refers to the harpoon gun used to hunt whales?

And I don't want any guesses (I can do that myself :p).. so does anyone know for sure what it is?

[Spaztick]

Not sure, but whatever helps you to remember it is more important than where the kanji came from. According to A Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters, the radical here means big/capital, so a big fish, although we know better that whales are mammals.

[Akuma]

Ah, of course. I was thinking of capital in terms of importance, not size. *Buries his head in the sand*.