鴛鴦

Chinese

Wikipedia has an article on:

• 鴛鴦

Pronunciation

Noun

鴛鴦

1. mandarin duck (Classifier: 隻／只; 雙／双; 對／对)

   • 鴛鴦雙棲，蝶雙飛；
     滿園春色惹人醉。 [MSC, trad.]
     鸳鸯双栖，蝶双飞；
     满园春色惹人醉。 [MSC, simp.]

     From: 1986, 許鏡清 Xu Jingqing (music) & 楊潔 Yang Jie (lyrics), 《女儿情》 "Maiden's Love"

     Yuānyāng shuāngqī, dié shuāngfēi;
     Mǎnyuán chūnsè rě rén zuì.

     The Mandarin ducks, drake and hen, perch together, the butterflies fly side-by-side;
     The inebriating spring's colours fill the garden.

2. (obsolete) ruddy shelduck
3. (figurative) objects or people occurring in inseparable pairs
4. (figurative) affectionate couple; happily married couple
5. yuenyeung (a beverage made from mixing coffee with Hong Kong-style milk tea) (Classifier: 杯)

Derived terms

Descendants

Others:

• → English: yuenyeung (from Cantonese)
• → English: yuanyang (from Mandarin)
• ⇒ Zhuang: roegyaemyieng

Proper noun

鴛鴦

1. (～鄉) Yuanyang (a township in Maojian district, Shiyan, Hubei, China)

Japanese

Japanese Wikipedia has an article on:

鴛鴦

Wikipedia ^ja

English Wikipedia has an article on:

Mandarin duck

Wikipedia

Etymology 1

From Old Japanese. First cited to the Nihon Shoki of 720.

• /wosi/ → /oɕi/

Further derivation unclear. Possibly from Old and Classical Japanese adjective 愛し (woshi, modern reading oshi, “dear, loving”), from the way the ducks are believed to mate for life and seldom stray far from one another. This interpretation is traced back to readings applied to the Nihon Shoki and understandings of the 詩経 (Shikyō, “Shījīng” or “Classic of Poetry”).

The spelling is from Chinese, with 鴛 representing the male bird and 鴦 representing the female bird.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) お​し (Atamadaka – )
• IPA^(key):

Noun

鴛鴦(おし) or 鴛鴦(オシ) • (oshi) ^{←をし (wosi) or ヲシ (wosi)?}

1. (archaic, poetic) older name of the 鴛鴦(おしどり) (oshidori, “mandarin duck”)
2. a kind of 家紋(かもん) (kamon, “family crest”) featuring a mandarin duck

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 オシ.

Derived terms

• アメリカオシ (amerika oshi)

Etymology 2

From Old Japanese. First cited to the Man'yōshū of 759.

Compound of 鴛鴦 (oshi, “mandarin duck”) +‎ 鳥 (tori, “bird”). The tori changes to dori as an instance of rendaku (連濁).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) おし​どり (Nakadaka – )
• IPA^(key):

Noun

鴛鴦(おしどり) or 鴛鴦(オシドリ) • (oshidori) ^{←をしどり (wosidori) or ヲシドリ (wosidori)?}

1. a mandarin duck, Aix galericulata
2. (figurative) a pair of lovebirds, a loving couple
3. a topknot or bun hairstyle wherein the hair is bunched on each side in a shape vaguely resembling two mandarin ducks

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 オシドリ.

Derived terms

• 鴛鴦夫(おしどりふう)婦(ふ) (oshidori fūfu, “loving couple”)
• アメリカオシドリ (amerika oshidori)

Etymology 3

/weɴau/ → /weɴɔː/ → /eɴoː/

From Middle Chinese 鴛鴦 (MC 'jwon|'won 'jang|'ang, literally “male mandarin duck + female mandarin duck”). First cited in Japanese to a text from 835.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) えんおー (Heiban – )
• IPA^(key):

Noun

鴛(えん)鴦(おう) • (en'ō) ^{←ゑんあう (wen'au)?}

1. (rare) a mandarin duck, Aix galericulata
2. (rare, figurative) a pair of lovebirds, a loving couple

References

Korean

Noun

鴛鴦 • (wonang) (hangeul 원앙)

1. Hanja form^? of 원앙 (“mandarin duck”).

Vietnamese

Noun

鴛鴦

1. chữ Hán form of uyên ương (“mandarin duck”).