牡蠣

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See also: 牡蛎

Chinese

phonetic oyster
trad. (牡蠣)
simp. (牡蛎)
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Etymology

Probably from (OC *mə-rat-s), with the preinitial *mə- written out as (Baxter and Sagart, 2020).

Pronunciation


Noun

牡蠣

  1. oyster

Synonyms

Derived terms

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (牡蠣):
  • Japanese: ()(れい) (borei)
  • Korean: 모려(牡蠣) (moryeo)

Japanese

牡蠣 (kaki, borei): an opened oyster.
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Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
Jinmeiyō Hyōgai
irregular
Alternative spellings


牡蛎 (shinjitai)

Probably a shift from either:

  • 掻き (kaki, scratching, scraping), the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, continuative or stem form) of verb 掻く (kaku, to scratch, to scrape), from the way that oysters are harvested by scraping them off of the oyster bed
  • 欠き (kaki, breaking, chipping), the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, continuative or stem form) of verb 欠く (kaku, to break, to chip), from the way that one must break or chip an oyster shell to get at the meat

The spelling is from Chinese 牡蠣 / 牡蛎 (mǔlì), as an example of jukujikun (熟字訓).

Pronunciation

Noun

牡蠣(かき) or 牡蠣(カキ) (kaki

  1. oyster (edible)
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 カキ.

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term

Jinmeiyō
れい
Hyōgai
on'yomi

From Middle Chinese 牡蠣 (MC muwX ljejH).

Pronunciation

Noun

()(れい) (borei

  1. an oyster
  2. (traditional Chinese medicine) roasted and powdered oyster shell, used in antacids, sedatives, and as a bird feed additive

See also

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  2. ^ NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN
  3. ^ Kindaichi, Kyōsuke et al., editors (1997), 新明解国語辞典 [Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten] (in Japanese), Fifth edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

Further reading