山査子

Japanese
山査子 (sanzashi): the flower of the Chinese hawthorn.
Kanji in this term
山 査 子
さん
Grade: 1		 さ > ざ
Grade: 5		 し
Grade: 1
on’yomi

Etymology

Appears to be from Middle Chinese 山查子 (srɛn dʒa tsiX, literally “mountain + hawthorn + child, little thing”). The plant itself is native to China.

The modern standard form in Chinese is 山楂; compare modern Mandarin reading shānzhā, Cantonese saan1 zaa1.

Pronunciation

Alternative forms

Noun

山査子 (hiragana さんざし, katakana サンザシ, rōmaji sanzashi)

  1. a hawthorn
  2. (more specifically) Crataegus cuneata: a Chinese hawthorn

Usage notes

As with many terms that name organisms, this term is often spelled in katakana, especially in biological contexts, as サンザシ.

Of the two kanji spellings, 山査子 appears to be more common.

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