西瓜

Chinese

west
 
melon; claw; gourd; squash
simp. and trad.
(西瓜)
西
Literally: “western melon”.

Pronunciation


Noun

西瓜

  1. watermelon

Derived terms

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (西瓜):

Others:


Japanese

Kanji in this term
西
Grade: 2 Jinmeiyō
Irregular

Etymology

From Middle Chinese compound 西瓜 (sej kwæ, literally west + melon). Compare modern Mandarin 西瓜 (xīguā, “watermelon”). sui is the 唐音 of 西. There is an alternative spelling of 水瓜, which may be seen as both ateji and a calque of English watermelon.

Pronunciation

  • (Irregular reading)

Noun

西瓜 (hiragana すいか, katakana スイカ, rōmaji suika, historical hiragana すいくわ)

  1. watermelon

Derived terms

References

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