鏡餅

Japanese

Kanji in this term
鏡	餅
かがみ Grade: 4	もち Grade: S
kun'yomi

Alternative spellings
鏡餠 (kyūjitai) 鏡もち

Etymology

Compound of 鏡 (kagami, “mirror”) +‎ 餅 (mochi, “mochi, a doughy kind of rice cake made from pounded glutinous rice”), so called for the resemblance in outline to ancient Japanese bronze mirrors.^[1]^[2]

Pronunciation

(Tokyo) かがみもち [kàgámíꜜ mòchì] (Nakadaka – [3])^[2]
IPA^(key): [ka̠ɡa̠mʲi mo̞t͡ɕi]

Noun

鏡(かがみ)餅(もち) • (kagami mochi)

a set of rice cakes for traditional Japanese New Years decoration

References

^ Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

[KDJ-1] Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN

[DJR-2] 2.0 ^2.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

[1]

[2]