足掻き

• 足掻 (less common)

The 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “stem or continuative form”) of verb 足掻く (agaku, “to paw at the ground; to struggle”), itself a compound of 足 (a, “foot”, Old Japanese form, now only found in compounds) +‎ 掻く (kaku, “to scratch”).^[1] The kaki changes to gaki as an instance of rendaku (連濁).

• (Tokyo) あがき (Odaka – )^[2]
• (Tokyo) あがき (Atamadaka – )^[2]
• IPA^(key):

足掻(あが)き • (agaki) 

1. pawing of hooves at the ground
2. struggling, flailing about

   足掻(あが)きが空(むな)しくて結局絶望(けっきょくぜつぼう)に陥(おちい)った。

   Agaki ga munashikute kekkyoku zetsubō ni ochiitta.

   His flailing about was futile, and he ultimately fell into a depression.

3. movement of one's hands and legs

• 足掻(あが)く (agaku): to paw at the ground; to struggle

• 悪足掻(わるあが)き (waruagaki)

Compound of 足 (ashi, “foot”) +‎ 掻き (kaki, “scratching”, the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “stem or continuative form”) of verb 掻く (kaku, “to scratch”)).^[1] The kaki changes to gaki as an instance of rendaku (連濁).

• IPA^(key):

足掻(あしが)き • (ashigaki) 

1. pawing at the ground (less common than the agaki reading)
2. a children's game played by hopping around on one foot

Japanese Wikipedia has an article on:

サヤヌカグサ属
Sayanukagusa-zoku (Leersia)

Wikipedia ^ja

English Wikipedia has an article on:

Leersia

Wikipedia

Compound of 足 (ashi, “foot”) +‎ 掻き (kaki, “scratching”, the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “stem or continuative form”) of verb 掻く (kaku, “to scratch”)), possibly from the way that horses or cattle might paw at the grass when grazing. Note the lack of rendaku.

• IPA^(key):

足掻(あしか)き or 足掻(アシカ)き • (ashikaki) 

1. Leersia japonica, a kind of cutgrass native to Japan

As with many terms used in biology contexts, this term is often spelled in katakana.

• 台湾(たいわん)足掻(あしか)き (Taiwan ashikaki): Leersia hexandra, southern cutgrass

• 2002, Ineko Kondō; Fumi Takano; Mary E Althaus; et. al., Shogakukan Progressive Japanese-English Dictionary, Third Edition, Tokyo: Shōgakukan, →ISBN.