法螺貝

Japanese

Kanji in this term
法	螺	貝
ほう > ほ Grade: 4	ら Jinmeiyō	かい > がい Grade: 1
on'yomi		kun'yomi

Alternative spellings
ほら貝吹螺梭尾貝

Etymology

Compound of 法螺(ほら) (hora, “boasting, bragging”) + 貝(かい) (kai, “shell, shellfish”).^[1]^[2] The kai changes to gai as an instance of rendaku (連(れん)濁(だく)).

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “relation to 哱囉#Chinese? Are we sure that 法螺 is the true meaning and not ateji?”)

Pronunciation

(Tokyo) ほらがい [hòráꜜgàì] (Nakadaka – [2])^[2]
IPA^(key): [ho̞ɾa̠ɡa̠i]

Noun

法(ほ)螺(ら)貝(がい) or 法螺貝(ホラガイ) • (horagai)

a Triton's trumpet, Charonia tritonis
a horn made from a Triton's trumpet shell
by metaphor from the shape of the shell, a way of tying a man's obi

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 ホラガイ (horagai).

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

“^△法^▲螺貝”, in 漢字ぺディア [Kanjipedia]‎^[1] (in Japanese), The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 2015–2026

[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]