天鵞

Japanese

Etymology

From Middle Chinese compound 天鵞／天鹅 (then nga, “swan”, literally “heavenly + goose”). The second character 鵞／鹅 (é) has apparently been superseded in modern Chinese by the alternative form 鵝／鹅 (é). Compare modern Cantonese 天鵝／天鹅 (tin¹ ngo⁴).

This word appears in the 1734 work 本朝世事綺談 (Honchō Seji Kidan, “Embellished Tales of Everyday Japan”; also listed as 本朝世事談綺, with the last two characters swapped), in a description of the kanji spelling of 天鵞絨 (tengajū ,alternative reading birōdo, “velvet”, archaic, largely replaced by the borrowed term ビロード (birōdo)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Noun

天(てん)鵞(が) • (tenga) 

1. (rare, obsolete) a swan

Usage notes

This term has been replaced in modern Japanese by 白鳥 (hakuchō, “swan”, literally “white bird”).

Derived terms