扁桃

Chinese

		flat; tablet; inscription flat; tablet; inscription; small boat	peach
simp. and trad. (扁桃)		扁	桃
variant forms		偏桃 匾桃

Etymology

A Central Asian import during the Medieval period. Perhaps a phono-semantic matching of Persian بادام‎ (bâdâm, “almond”) (as per Cihai), semantically construed as the “flat peach”.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): biǎntáo

  (Zhuyin): ㄅㄧㄢˇ ㄊㄠˊ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): bin² tou⁴

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Pinyin: biǎntáo
    • Zhuyin: ㄅㄧㄢˇ ㄊㄠˊ
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: beantaur
    • IPA ^(key): /pi̯ɛn²¹⁴⁻²¹¹ tʰɑʊ̯³⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: bin² tou⁴
    • Yale: bín tòuh
    • Cantonese Pinyin: bin² tou⁴
    • Guangdong Romanization: bin² tou⁴
    • IPA ^(key): /piːn³⁵ tʰou̯²¹/

Noun

扁桃

1. almond
2. flat peach

Synonyms

• (almond): 杏仁 (xìngrén)
• (flat peach): 蟠桃 (pántáo)

Derived terms

• 扁桃腺 (biǎntáoxiàn, “tonsil”)

• 扁桃體／扁桃体 (biǎntáotǐ)

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Japanese

扁桃 (hentō): the tonsils.

Kanji in this term
扁	桃
へん Hyōgaiji	とう Grade: S
on’yomi

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) へんとー [hèńtóó] (Heiban – [0])
  • IPA^(key): [hẽ̞nto̞ː]

Noun

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

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

Synonyms

• (almond): 巴 (は)旦 (たん)杏 (きょう) (hatankyō), アーモンド (āmondo)
• (tonsil): 扁 (へん)桃 (とう)腺 (せん) (hentōsen)

Derived terms

Derived terms

• 苦 (く)扁 (へん)桃 (とう) (kuhentō): bitter almond
• 苦 (く)扁 (へん)桃 (とう)油 (ゆ) (kuhentōyu): bitter almond oil
• 苦扁桃水 (くへんとうすい) (kuhentōsui): bitter almond oil dissolved in water
• 扁 (へん)桃 (とう)炎 (えん) (hentōen): tonsillitis
• 扁桃核 (へんとうかく) (hentōkaku): amygdala
• 扁 (へん)桃 (とう)腺 (せん) (hentōsen): tonsil
• 扁 (へん)桃 (とう)腺 (せん)炎 (えん) (hentōsen'en): tonsillitis
• 扁桃腺切除 (へんとうせんせつじょ) (hentōsen setsujo): tonsillectomy
• 扁桃肥大 (へんとうひだい) (hentō hidai): enlarged tonsils, tonsillar hypertrophy
• 扁桃体 (へんとうたい) (hentōtai): amygdala
• 扁 (へん)桃 (とう)油 (ゆ) (hentōyu): almond oil

References

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