鬼灯

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Japanese

鬼灯 (hōzuki): the Chinese lantern plant, showing the fruit in its distinctive husk.
Kanji in this term
ほおずき
Grade: S Grade: 4
jukujikun
Alternative spellings
鬼燈 (kyūjitai)
酸漿
 ホオズキ on Japanese Wikipedia
 Physalis alkekengi on Wikipedia

Etymology

Probably originally a compound of (, cheeks) +‎ 付き (tsuki, resembling, appearing like, the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, continuative or stem form) of verb 付く tsuku “to stick → to become a certain state or quality”), from the way the husk vaguely resembles bulging red cheeks. The tsuki changes to zuki as an instance of rendaku (連濁).(Can this(+) etymology be sourced?)

The kanji spellings are examples of jukujikun (熟字訓), with 鬼灯 literally meaning "demon" + "lantern" and the alternate kanji spelling 酸漿 being derived from the Chinese name 酸漿 / 酸浆 (suānjiāng).

Pronunciation

Noun

鬼灯(ほおずき) or 鬼灯(ホオズキ) (hōzukiほほづき (fofoduki) or ホホヅキ (fofoduki)?

  1. Alkekengi officinarum, syn. Physalis alkekengi
    Vernacular names include the Chinese lantern, Japanese lantern, bladder cherry, winter cherry, husk tomato, and the strawberry groundcherry.

Usage notes

  • As with many terms that name organisms, this term is often spelled in katakana, especially in biological contexts (where katakana is customary), as ホオズキ (hōzuki).
  • The standalone kanji form 鬼灯 appears to be more common than 酸漿, but the latter form may be more common in the kanji spellings of certain compounds.

References

  1. ^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN