天道虫

• てんとう虫, 瓢虫, 紅娘

Compound of 天道 (tentō, “celestial path; the sun”) +‎ 虫 (mushi, “bug”).

There are various theories for the derivation. These include:

• So called because the insects fly upwards towards the sun.
• So called for their habit of landing on branches and orienting upwards, towards the sky.

Derived species names are generally suffixed with -tentō.

• (Tokyo) てんと​ーむし [tèńtóꜜòmùshì] (Nakadaka – [3])[1]
• IPA^(key): [tẽ̞nto̞ːmɯ̟ᵝɕi]

天道虫 (shinjitai kanji, kyūjitai kanji 天道蟲, hiragana てんとうむし, katakana テントウムシ, rōmaji tentō mushi, historical hiragana てんたうむし, historical katakana テンタウムシ)

1. a ladybird (UK), a ladybug (US), a lady beetle (any beetle of family Coccinellidae)

   Hypernym: 甲虫 (kōchū)

2. Synonym of 並瓢虫 (namitentō): an Asian lady beetle, Harmonia axyridis

As with many terms that name organisms, this term is often spelled in katakana, especially in biological contexts, as テントウムシ.

• Etymology at Nihonjiten (in Japanese)