海馬

sea horse

So named as its shape is similar to horse's head. First used in the Tang dynasty-era 《本草拾遺》 (Supplements to the Compendium of Materia Medica).

海馬

1. sea horse
2. (obsolete) walrus
3. (obsolete) frog

海馬 (umiuma, kaiba): a sea horse.

Compound of 海 (umi, “ocean, sea”) +‎ 馬 (uma, “horse”).[1][2]

• Kun’yomi
  • (Tokyo) うみうま [ùmíúmá] (Heiban – [0])[2]
  • (Tokyo) うみ​うま [ùmíꜜùmà] (Nakadaka – [2])[2]
  • IPA^(key): [ɯ̟ᵝmʲiɯ̟ᵝma̠]

海馬 (hiragana うみうま, rōmaji umiuma)

1. Synonym of 竜の落とし子 (tatsu no otoshigo, “sea horse”) (fish)

• 大 (オオ)海 (ウミ)馬 (ウマ) (ōumiuma)
• 黒 (クロ)海 (ウミ)馬 (ウマ) (kuroumiuma)

海馬 (kaiba): a walrus.

From Middle Chinese 海馬 (xoj^X mæ^X, literally “sea + horse”). Compare Mandarin 海馬 (hǎimǎ), Cantonese 海馬 (hoi2 maa5), Min Nan 海馬 (hái-bé).

• On’yomi: Kan’on
  • (Tokyo) か​いば [káꜜìbà] (Atamadaka – [1])[2]
  • IPA^(key): [ka̠iba̠]

海馬 (hiragana かいば, rōmaji kaiba)

1. (rare) Synonym of 竜の落とし子 (tatsu no otoshigo, “sea horse”) (fish)
2. (rare) Synonym of 海象 (seiuchi, “walrus”)
3. (anatomy) the hippocampus (a part of the brain)

• (hippocampus): 海 (かい)馬 (ば)体 (たい) (kaibatai)

海馬 (todo): a female and male Steller sea lion.

From Ainu トド (todo), トト (toto, “sea lion”).[1] The kanji is jukujikun (熟字訓).

• 胡獱

• (Irregular reading)
  • (Tokyo) と​ど [tóꜜdò] (Atamadaka – [1])[2]
  • IPA^(key): [to̞do̞]

海馬 (hiragana とど, katakana トド, rōmaji todo)

1. a Steller sea lion

As with many terms that name organisms, this term is often spelled in katakana, especially in biological contexts, as トド. The kanji spellings are rare. When written in kanji, the 胡獱 spelling may be more common, likely to avoid confusion with the alternate readings of the 海馬 spelling of umiuma and kaiba.