胡獱

Japanese

Etymology 1

海馬 (todo): a female and male Steller sea lion.
Kanji in this term
胡 獱
Jinmeiyō Hyōgaiji
Irregular

Borrowed from Ainu トド (todo) or トト (toto, “sea lion”).[1] The kanji spelling is an instance of jukujikun (熟字訓) from the older term kohin (see below).

Pronunciation

Alternative forms

Noun

胡獱 (hiragana とど, katakana トド, rōmaji todo)

  1. a Steller sea lion
Usage notes

As with many terms that name organisms, this term is often spelled in katakana, especially in biological contexts, as トド. The kanji spellings are rare. When written in kanji, the 胡獱 spelling may be more common, likely to avoid confusion with the alternate readings of the 海馬 spelling of umiuma and kaiba.

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
胡 獱
こ
Jinmeiyō		 ひん
Hyōgaiji
on’yomi

Appears to be a coinage in Japan of Middle Chinese-derived elements, as a compound of 胡 (ko, “reckless”) +‎ 獱 (hin, “otter”, by extension, in reference to a marine mammal).

Pronunciation

Noun

胡獱 (hiragana こひん, rōmaji kohin)

  1. (archaic, possibly obsolete) a Steller sea lion
Usage notes

The kohin reading has been superseded by the Ainu borrowing todo above.

References

  1. ↑ 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
  2. ↑ 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
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