Chinese

Noun

扁桃

1. almond

   Synonyms: 杏仁 (xìngrén)

2. flat peach

   Synonyms: 蟠桃 (pántáo)

Derived terms

Japanese

扁桃 (hentō): the tonsils.

Etymology

/pentau/ → /fentau/ → /hentau/ → /hentɔː/ → /hentoː/

From Middle Chinese compound 扁桃 ‎(pen^X daw, literally “flat, thin + peach”), from the way the almond fruit resembles a flat, thin peach.

The modern sense of tonsil came about by contraction from the full term 扁桃腺 ‎(hentōsen, literally “almond gland”).

Pronunciation

• On'yomi: Kan'on
• (Tokyo) へんとう [hèńtóó] (Heiban - [0])^[1]
• IPA^(key): [hẽ̞nto̞ː]

Noun

扁桃 ‎(hiragana へんとう, katakana ヘントウ, romaji hentō, historical hiragana へんたう)

1. almond
2. tonsil (from the almond shape)

Synonyms

• (almond): 巴旦杏 (はたんきょう) ‎(hatankyō), アーモンド ‎(āmondo)
• (tonsil): 扁桃腺 (へんとうせん) ‎(hentōsen)

Derived terms

References

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

• 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan