マテガイ

Japanese
マテガイ: Gould's razor shell

Alternative forms

Etymology

Uncertain. Appears to be a compound of 真手 (mate, “both hands together”) +‎ 貝 (kai, “clam, shell”), presumably from the shape of the shell. The kai changes to gai as an instance of rendaku (連濁). The kanji spellings of mate are ateji.

Pronunciation

Noun

マテガイ (hiragana まてがい, rōmaji mategai, historical hiragana まてがひ)

  1. a razor clam, more specifically Gould's razor shell: Solen strictus.

Usage notes

Like many terms used in biology, this term is commonly written in katakana.

Synonyms

References
  1. 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, →ISBN
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