Chinese

Japanese

Etymology 1

Borrowing from English tomato. The kanji are ateji (当て字), from the Chinese word for tomato.

Pronunciation

• (Irregular reading)
• (Tokyo) と​まと [tóꜜmàtò] (Atamadaka - [1])^[1]
• IPA^(key): [to̞ma̠to̞]

Noun

蕃茄 ‎(katakana トマト, romaji tomato)

1. (rare) Alternative spelling of トマト: tomato (fruit)

Usage notes

The kanji spelling for tomato is exceedingly rare.

Etymology 2

Given the history of when tomatoes were introduced to the far east, probably from late-middle or early-modern Cantonese 蕃茄. Compare the modern Cantonese reading of faan¹ ke⁴.

Pronunciation

• Kan'yōyomi
• (Tokyo) ば​んか [báꜜǹkà] (Atamadaka - [1])^[1]
• IPA^(key): [bã̠ŋka̠]

Noun

蕃茄 ‎(hiragana ばんか, romaji banka)

1. (rare) tomato (fruit)

Usage notes

This term has been superseded in modern Japanese by the English-derived トマト ‎(tomato).

References

1. 1 2 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13905-9