ぺんぺん草

Japanese
Kanji in this term
草
くさ > ぐさ
Grade: 1
kun’yomi

Etymology

From ぺんぺん (penpen, onomatopoeia for a shamisen strumming) +‎ 草 (kusa, “grass”). The kusa changes to gusa as an instance of rendaku (連濁).

The penpen comes from the appearance of the seed vessel akin to a shamisen's 撥 (bachi, “plectrum”).[1][2][3]

Pronunciation
  • (Tokyo) ぺんぺ​んぐさ [pèńpéꜜǹgùsà] (Nakadaka – [3])[3]
  • IPA(key): [pẽ̞mpẽ̞ŋɡɯ̟ᵝsa̠]

Noun

ぺんぺん草(ぐさ) or ぺんぺん草(グサ) • (penpengusa) 

  1. Synonym of 薺 (nazuna): the shepherd's purse, Capsella bursa-pastoris

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 ペンペングサ.

Idioms
  • ぺんぺん草(ぐさ)が生(は)える (penpengusa ga haeru, “grow shepherd's purses [in abandoned places] → be dilapidated”)

References
  1. Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
  2. Matsumura, Akira (1995) 大辞泉 [Daijisen] (in Japanese), First edition, Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
  3. Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
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