蝋梅

Japanese

Kanji in this term
蝋	梅
ろう Hyōgai	ばい Grade: 4
on'yomi	kan'on

Alternative spellings
蠟梅 (kyūjitai) 臘梅

Etymology

Lit. wax plum, 蝋(ろう) (rō, “wax”) + 梅(ばい) (bai, “plum”)

Pronunciation

(Tokyo) ろーばい [ròóbáí] (Heiban – [0])^[1]^[2]^[3]
IPA^(key): [ɾo̞ːba̠i]

Noun

蝋(ろう)梅(ばい) or 蝋梅(ロウバイ) • (rōbai) ^{←らふばい (rafubai)^?}

wintersweet (Chimonanthus praecox)

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

^ 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
^ Yamada, Tadao et al., editors (2011), 新明解国語辞典 [Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten] (in Japanese), Seventh edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN