胡獱

海馬 (todo): a female and male Steller sea lion.

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).

• (Irregular reading)
  • (Tokyo) と​ど [tóꜜdò] (Atamadaka – [1])[2]
  • IPA^(key): [to̞do̞]
• Homophones: 椴, 鯔

• 海馬

胡獱 (hiragana とど, katakana トド, rōmaji todo)

1. a Steller sea lion

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.

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).

• On’yomi
  • IPA^(key): [ko̞çĩɴ]

胡獱 (hiragana こひん, rōmaji kohin)

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

The kohin reading has been superseded by the Ainu borrowing todo above.