源五郎鮒

Japanese

Kanji in this term
げん
Grade: 6

Grade: 1
ろう
Grade: S
ふな > ぶな
Hyōgaiji
jūbakoyomi
ゲンゴロウブナ

Etymology

Compound of 源五郎 (Gengorō, male given name) + (funa, crucian carp). The funa changes to buna due to rendaku (連濁).

According to one theory, the Gengorō portion was the name of a fisherman who fished in Lake Biwa, and every morning, presented the best of his catch of funa to the local lord. In another theory, this term arose from a tale about a Lake Biwa fisherman named Gengorō, who fell in love with a noblewoman and arranged a secret meeting with her by hiding a note inside a gengorōbuna fish that he had caught and presented to her.

Like many biology terms, this word is often spelled in katakana, as ゲンゴロウブナ.

Pronunciation

  • Mixed:
  • (Tokyo) んごろーぶ [gèńgóróóbúꜜnà] (Nakadaka – [6])[1]
  • IPA(key): [ɡẽ̞ŋɡo̞ɾo̞ːbɯ̟ᵝna̠]

Noun

源五郎鮒 (hiragana げんごろうぶな, katakana ゲンゴロウブナ, rōmaji gengorōbuna, historical hiragana げんごらうぶな)

  1. Carassius cuvieri the Japanese crucian carp or white crucian carp, a type of (funa, crucian carp), an edible freshwater ray-finned fish related to carp and goldfish and endemic to Lake Biwa in Japan

References

  1. 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN

Further reading

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