蜘蛛海星

Japanese

Kanji in this term
蜘	蛛	海	星
くも		ひとで
Hyōgai	Hyōgai	Grade: 2	Grade: 2
jukujikun		jukujikun

Alternative spellings
(kyūjitai) 蜘蛛人手蛇尾 (rare)

Etymology

Compound of 蜘蛛(くも) (kumo, “spider”) + 海星(ひとで) (hitode, “starfish”). First cited to a work from 1884.^[1]

Pronunciation

(Tokyo) くもひとで [kùmó híꜜtòdè] (Nakadaka – [3])^[2]
IPA^(key): [kɯ̟mo̞ çi̥to̞de̞]

Noun

蜘蛛(くも)海星(ひとで) or 蜘蛛海星(クモヒトデ) • (kumo hitode)

[from 1884] brittle star

Usage notes

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

References

^ “蜘蛛海星”, in 日本国語大辞典 [Nihon Kokugo Daijiten]‎^[1] (in Japanese), concise edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, 2006
^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN