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Definition 2024
菠薐草
菠薐草
Chinese
| spinach | grass; straw; draft (of a document); careless; rough; manuscript; hasty
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|---|---|---|---|
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simp. and trad. (菠薐草) |
菠薐 | 草 | |
Noun
菠薐草
Japanese
| Kanji in this term | ||
|---|---|---|
| 菠 | 薐 | 草 |
|
ほう Hyōgaiji |
れん Hyōgaiji |
そう Grade: 1 |
| on'yomi | ||
Etymology
The plant was introduced to Japan in the 16th century from China. A number of Japanese sources[1][2] state that the term 菠薐 (hōren) had previously been borrowed from Middle Chinese to refer vaguely to Persia or Nepal. The spinach plant did likely originate in the area of ancient Persia, but the Chinese term itself means spinach, not Nepal or Persia or any other place name. The plant was introduced to China via the region of Nepal around the year 647, suggesting that the Chinese term may have been borrowed from the Sanskrit language in use by the Licchavi kingdom ruling Nepal at that time. One possible Sanskrit source term is पालङ्ग (pālaṅga, “beet” or “beet greens” initially, later extended to also refer to “spinach”). Compare modern Nepali पालुङ्गो (pāluṅgo, “spinach”).
The Japanese term would thus be a compound of 菠薐 (hōren, “spinach”, obsolete, not used in modern Japanese) + 草 (sō, “herb, plant”).
The alternative kanji spellings are phonetic substitutions.
Pronunciation
Alternative forms
- ほうれん草, 法蓮草, 鳳蓮草
Noun
菠薐草 (hiragana ほうれんそう, katakana ホウレンソウ, romaji hōrensō, historical hiragana はうれんさう)
Usage notes
The first two kanji are extremely rare; the second character appears to be used only in this term. These two kanji are often replaced with the kana spelling, as ほうれん草.
As with many terms that name organisms, this term is often spelled in katakana in biological contexts, as ホウレンソウ.