蝋梅

Japanese

Kanji in this term
蝋	梅
ろう Hyōgaiji	ばい Grade: 4
on’yomi	kan’on

Alternative spellings
蠟梅 (kyūjitai) 臘梅

Etymology

Lit. wax plum, 蝋(ろう) (rō, “wax”) + 梅(ばい) (bai, “plum”)

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) ろばい [ròbáí] (Heiban – [0])
• IPA^(key): [ɾo̞ba̠i]

Noun

蝋(ろう)梅(ばい) or 蝋梅(ロウバイ) • (rōbai) ^{←らふばい (rafubai)?}

1. wintersweet (Chimonanthus praecox)

Usage notes

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