天鵞絨

See also: 天鵝絨

Japanese

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
天	鵞	絨
てん Grade: 1	が Hyōgaiji	じゅう Hyōgaiji
on’yomi

The 1734 work 本朝世事綺談 (Honchō Seji Kidan, “Embellished Tales of Everyday Japan”; also listed as 本朝世事談綺, with the last two characters swapped) describes this kanji spelling as arising from how velvet shines and shimmers in a way reminiscent of a swan's plumage: 天鵞 (tenga, “swan”, obsolete) + 絨 (jū, “thick fabric”).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) てんが​じゅう [tèńgáꜜjùù] (Nakadaka – [3])
• IPA^(key): [tẽ̞ŋɡa̠ʑɨᵝː]

Noun

天(てん)鵞(が)絨(じゅう) • (tengajū) 

1. (rare, archaic) velvet

Usage notes

The kanji spelling and on'yomi of tengajū are not used much in modern Japanese, and have been superseded by the borrowed term ビロード.

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
天	鵞	絨
ビロード
Grade: 1	Hyōgaiji	Hyōgaiji
jukujikun

Alternative spelling
ビロード

The spelling is from the tengajū reading, ultimately from Chinese. The reading ビロード (birōdo) is from Portuguese veludo (“velvet”). The term was borrowed when Portuguese traders and missionaries first introduced velvet to Japan in the 1500s.

Definitions

For pronunciation and definitions of 天鵞絨 – see the following entry.

【ビロード】 [noun] velvet Alternative spelling びろうど

(This term, 天鵞絨, is an alternative spelling (rare, archaic) of the above term.)

Usage notes

The katakana spelling ビロード is more common for this term.