牛蒡

Wikipedia has articles on:

• 牛蒡 (Written Standard Chinese^?)
• Gō͘-bō͘ (Southern Min)

牛蒡

1. burdock

• 牛子 (niúzǐ)

• → Middle Korean: 우워ᇰ (wuweng)
  • Korean: 우엉 (ueong)

• The template Template:R:nan-hbl:tdj does not use the parameter(s):

  hj=牛蒡

  Please see Module:checkparams for help with this warning.小川尚義 (OGAWA Naoyoshi), editor (1931–1932), “gû-bō”, in 臺日大辭典 [Taiwanese-Japanese Dictionary]‎, volume 1 (overall work in Hokkien and Japanese), Taihoku: Government-General of Taiwan, →OCLC, page 398
• “Entry #31034”, in 教育部臺灣台語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwanese Taigi] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2025.

 ゴボウ on Japanese Wikipedia

Certainly from Middle Chinese 牛蒡 (MC ngjuw pangX), but with a shift from the expected go-on reading of *guhō (or with rendaku as *gubō); compare Korean 우엉 (ueong).

First cited to the Iroha Jiruishō (1177-1181).^[1]

• (Tokyo) ごぼー (Heiban – )^[1][2][3]
• IPA^(key):

牛(ご)蒡(ぼう) or 牛蒡(ゴボウ) • (gobō) ^{←ごばう (gobau)?}

1. burdock (Arctium lappa)
2. Abbreviation of 牛蒡注連 (gobōjime, “a type of 注連縄 (shimenawa) that is bundled with straw and tied like a burdock used for celebrations such as New Years or Shinto shrines”).
3. a penis; a cock; a stalk

As with many terms that name organisms, this term is often spelled in katakana, especially in biological contexts (where katakana is customary).

• (penis, cock, stalk): 牛蒡(ごぼう)を洗(あら)う (gobō o arau, “to have sex”, literally “to rinse a cock”)