山葵

Chinese

mountain; hill sunflower
trad. (山葵)
simp. #(山葵)

Etymology

Orthographic borrowing from Japanese 山葵 (wasabi).

Pronunciation


Noun

山葵

  1. wasabi: the Japanese horseradish (Eutrema japonicum, Wasabia japonica)

Synonyms

  • 芥末 (jièmo), 青芥辣, 日本芥辣, 日式芥辣; (Cantonese) 芥辣; (Hong Kong Cantonese) wasabi; (Taiwanese Hokkien) 哇沙米 (oa-sá-bih)

Japanese

Kanji in this term
わさび
Grade: 1 Jinmeiyō
jukujikun

Etymology

*/wasapi//wasabi/

First attested in the Honzō Wamyō (918 CE) with this kanji compound and phonetic spelling of 和佐比.

The kanji reflects where the plant was first observed: (yama, mountains), and their leaves resembling (aoi, hollyhocks) or 銭葵 (zeniaoi, mallows).

Pronunciation

Noun

山葵(わさび) or 山葵(ワサビ) • (wasabi

  1. the wasabi plant, the Japanese horseradish (Eutrema japonicum)
    Hypernym: 油菜 (aburana)
    • c. 918, 深根輔仁 [Fukane Sukehito], 本草和名 [Japanese Names of Herbs, Honzō Wamyō]:
      山葵 葉似葵、故名之、生深山、出崔禹 竜珠 実名也、出孟詵 和名和佐比
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
  1. the stem of the wasabi plant when grated, used as a spice or condiment

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 ワサビ (wasabi).
  • Called 本山葵 (hon wasabi) when needed to distinguish it from the derived terms.

Derived terms

Idioms

  • 山葵(わさび)() (wasabi ga kiku)

Coordinate terms

Descendants

  • English: wasabi
  • Hokkien: 哇沙米 (oa-sá-bih)
  • Mandarin: 哇沙比 (wāshābǐ)
  • Miyako: 山葵 (wasabi)

References

  1. ^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  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
  • Fukane no Sukehito (c. 901–923) Maruyama Yumiko, Wu Qian, editors, Honzō Wamyō: Eiin, Honkoku to Kenkyū) (in Japanese), Kyūko Shoin, published 2021, →ISBN.