三味線貝

Japanese

Kanji in this term
三	味	線	貝
しゃ Grade: 1 (ateji)	み Grade: 3 (ateji)	せん Grade: 2	かい > がい Grade: 1
irregular	goon	on’yomi	kun’yomi

Etymology

Compound of 三味線 (shamisen, a Japanese plucked string instrument) +‎ 貝 (kai, “shellfish”).

The kai changes to gai as an instance of rendaku (連濁)..

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) しゃみせ​んがい [shàmíséꜜǹgàì] (Nakadaka – [3])
• IPA^(key): [ɕa̠mʲisẽ̞ŋɡa̠i]

Noun

三(しゃ)味(み)線(せん)貝(がい) • (shamisengai) ^{←しやみせんがひ (syamisengafi)?}

1. a lamp shell, lingulate brachiopod of the family Lingulidae

   Synonym: 女冠者 (mekaja, dialectal)

   Hypernym: 腕足類 (wansokurui)

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 シャミセンガイ.

Coordinate terms

• 酸漿(ほおずき)貝(がい) (hōzukigai, “lampshell excluding the lingulate brachiopods”)