石斑魚

石斑魚

1. grouper (of the family Epinephelinae)

Derivation uncertain, with two theories:

• Possibly originally a compound of 鵜 (u, “cormorant”) +‎ 食い (kui, “eating, gobbling”, the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of verb 食う (kuu, “to eat, to gobble”)).^[1]

/u/ + /kufi/ → /uɡufi/ → /uɡuhi/ → /uɡui/

• Alternatively, may be a shift from 海 (u, “sea, ocean”, hypothetical stem or root of 海 (umi, “sea”)) +‎ 鯉 (koi, “carp”).^[1]

/u/ + /kofi/ → */uɡofi/ → /uɡufi/ → /uɡuhi/ → /uɡui/

• (Tokyo) うぐい [ùgúí] (Heiban – [0])^[2][3][4]
• IPA^(key): [ɯ̟ɡɯ̟i]

石斑魚(うぐい) or 石斑魚(ウグイ) • (ugui) ^{←うぐひ (ugufi)?}

1. alternative spelling of 鯎 (ugui, “Japanese dace, also known as the big-scaled redfin: Tribolodon hakonensis, an edible fish in family Cyprinidae”)

This three-kanji spelling is an example of jukujikun.

Compound of 石 (ishi, “rock, stone”) +‎ 伏し (fushi, “crouching down, lying down; hiding”, the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “the continuative or stem form”) of verb 伏す (fusu, “to crouch down, to lie down; to hide”)),^[5] from the way the fish seem to crouch down and hide among the stones of the river bed.^[2] The fushi changes to bushi as an instance of rendaku (連濁).

• (Tokyo) いしぶし [ìshíbúshí] (Heiban – [0])^[2]
• IPA^(key): [iɕibɯ̟ɕi]

石斑魚(いしぶし) or 石斑魚(イシブシ) • (ishibushi) 

1. alternative for 葦(よし)登(のぼり) (yoshinobori): a kind of freshwater goby, any fish of genus Rhinogobius

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