マテガイ

Japanese

Etymology

Alternative spellings
蟶貝馬刀貝馬蛤貝

Uncertain. Appears to be a compound of 真手 (mate, “both hands together”) +‎ 貝 (kai, “clam, shell”), presumably from the shape of the shell. The kai changes to gai as an instance of rendaku (連濁). The kanji spellings of mate are ateji.

Pronunciation

(Tokyo) マテガイ [màtéꜜgàì] (Nakadaka – [2])^[1]^[2]
IPA^(key): [ma̠te̞ɡa̠i]

Noun

マテガイ or まてがい • (mategai) ^{←まてがひ (mategafi)^?}

a razor clam, more specifically Gould's razor shell: Solen strictus.

Usage notes

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

Synonyms

馬刀(まて), 馬蛤(まて), 蟶(まて) (mate)

References

^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
^ NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN

[DJR-1] Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

[NHK-2] NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN

[1]

[2]