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Possibly a phono-semantic compound (形聲/形声, OC *l̥ʰaːb, *l'eːb) : semantic 魚(“fish”) + phonetic 枼(OC *leb). Another explanation is that it is an ideogrammic compound (會意/会意) : semantic 魚(“fish”) + semantic 枼(“flat, wide, thin”). It is possible that the two interpretations influenced each other.
Originally from a shift of 王余魚(kara-ei) attested in the Honzō Wamyō, itself a compound of 韓(Kara, “Korea”, euphemism) + 鱝(ei, “ray”); it is said that the flounder was imported from Korea to Japan in the Samhan period, and was regarded to the Koreans at that time as “beautiful”. From its ray-like appearance, the medieval Japanese had mistaken the flounder for such. (Can this(+) etymology be sourced?)
Righteye flounder (literally “king-remaining fish”): according to the Zhūyá chronicle, at the southern sea there exists a righteye flounder (Japanese name kara-ei, commonly said karei); long ago, the king of Yuè had not completely made kuài and discarded half of the remaining into the water; as a result half of his body turned into a fish, hence the name.
1603, Vocabvlario da Lingoa de Iapam (Nippo Jisho) [Vocabulary of the Language of Japan] (in Portuguese), Nagasaki:
As with many terms that name organisms, this term is often spelled in katakana, especially in biological contexts (where katakana is customary), as カレイ.