天道虫

Japanese

Kanji in this term
天	道	虫
てん Grade: 1	とう Grade: 2	むし Grade: 1
kan'on		kun'yomi

Alternative spellings
天道蟲 (kyūjitai) てんとう虫 瓢虫 紅娘

天道虫 (tentō mushi): a ladybug, a ladybird.

Etymology

Compound of 天道 (tentō, “celestial path; the sun”) +‎ 虫 (mushi, “bug”).

There are various theories for the derivation. These include:

• So called because the insects fly upwards towards the sun.
• So called for their habit of landing on branches and orienting upwards, towards the sky.

Derived species names are generally suffixed with -tentō.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) てんとーむし [tèńtóꜜòmùshì] (Nakadaka – [3])
• IPA^(key): [tẽ̞nto̞ːmɯ̟ɕi]

Noun

1. a ladybird (UK), a ladybug (US), a lady beetle (any beetle of family Coccinellidae)

   Hypernym: 甲虫 (kōchū)

2. Synonym of 並瓢虫 (namitentō): an Asian lady beetle,

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 テントウムシ.

Derived terms

Derived terms

• 偽瓢虫(てんとうむしだまし) (tentō-mushi damashi, “handsome fungus beetle of the Endomychidae family”)
• 赤(あか)星(ぼし)瓢虫(てんとう) (akaboshi tentō, “”)
• 七(なな)星(ほし)瓢虫(てんとう) (nanahoshi tentō, “”)
• 並(なみ)瓢虫(てんとう) (nami tentō, “”)
• 二(に)十(じゅう)八(はち)星(ほし)瓢虫(てんとう) (nijūhachihoshi tentō, “”)

Further reading

• Etymology at Nihonjiten (in Japanese)