詰草

Japanese

Kanji in this term
詰	草
つ(め) Grade: S	くさ Grade: 1
kun’yomi

Etymology

Compound of 詰め (tsume, “packing”, the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of verb 詰める (tsumeru, “to pack something”)) +‎ 草 (kusa, “plant, herb”).

The name of the plant arose from the practice of Dutch merchants shipping goods to Japan of using dried clover as a packing material to protect glassware and other fragile merchandise.

First cited to a botanical reference work from 1884. The plant was introduced to Japan, accounting for the late appearance of the term.

Not to be confused with homophonous 爪草 (tsumekusa, “Sagina japonica, Japanese pearlwort”).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) つめくさ [tsùmékúsá] (Heiban – [0])
• IPA^(key): [t͡sɨᵝme̞kɯ̟̊ᵝsa̠]

Noun

詰草: white (Trifolium repens) and red clover (Trifolium pratense)

詰(つめ)草(くさ) or 詰草(ツメクサ) • (tsumekusa) 

1. [from 1884] clover: short for 白詰草 (shiro tsumekusa, “white clover”), or short for 赤詰草 (aka tsumekusa, “red clover (Trifolium pratense)”)

   Synonyms: 白詰草 (shiro tsumekusa, literally “white clover”), 赤詰草 (aka tsumekusa, literally “red clover”), クローバー (kurōbā), (less specifically) 馬肥やし (umagoyashi)

Usage notes

As with many terms that name organisms, this term is often spelled in katakana, especially in biological contexts (where katakana is customary), as ツメクサ.

Further reading

• Entry at Nihon Jiten ("Japan Dictionary", in Japanese)