ぺんぺん草

Japanese

Kanji in this term
草
くさ > ぐさ Grade: 1
kun'yomi

Etymology

From ぺんぺん (penpen, onomatopoeia for a shamisen strumming) +‎ 草 (kusa, “grass”). The kusa changes to gusa as an instance of rendaku (連濁).

The penpen comes from the appearance of the seed vessel akin to a shamisen's 撥 (bachi, “plectrum”).^[1]^[2]^[3]

Pronunciation

(Tokyo) ぺんぺんぐさ [pèńpéꜜǹgùsà] (Nakadaka – [3])^[3]
IPA^(key): [pẽ̞mpẽ̞ŋɡɯ̟sa̠]

Noun

ぺんぺん草(ぐさ) or ぺんぺん草(グサ) • (penpengusa)

synonym of 薺 (nazuna): the shepherd's purse, Capsella bursa-pastoris

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 ペンペングサ (penpengusa).

Idioms

ぺんぺん草(ぐさ)が生(は)える (penpengusa ga haeru, “grow shepherd's purses [in abandoned places] → be dilapidated”)

References

^ Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (1995), 大辞泉 [Daijisen] (in Japanese), First edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, →ISBN
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

[1] Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN

[2] Matsumura, Akira, editor (1995), 大辞泉 [Daijisen] (in Japanese), First edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, →ISBN

[DJR-3] 3.0 ^3.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

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