蜘蛛

Reduplication in Old Chinese (Baxter and Sagart, 1998).

This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

蜘蛛

1. spider

From Old Japanese. Found in the Man'yōshū, completed in 759 CE.

Ultimate derivation unknown. Various theories exist, including:

• From 籠もる (komoru, “to hide inside something”), from the way that spiders hide in their webs
• From 組む (kumu, “to bundle something together”), from the way that spiders wrap up caught insects
• From 雲 (kumo, “cloud”), from the way that spider webs may look vaguely like clouds

May ultimately be cognate with Korean 거미 (geomi, “spider”). The kanji are jukujikun (熟字訓), from Chinese 蜘蛛.

• (Irregular reading)
  • (Tokyo) く​も [kúꜜmò] (Atamadaka – [1])[1][2]
  • IPA^(key): [kɯ̟ᵝmo̞]

蜘蛛 (hiragana くも, katakana クモ, rōmaji kumo)

1. spider
   • 芥川龍之介, 蜘蛛の糸

     御 (お)釈 (しゃ)迦 (か)様 (さま)は地 (じ)獄 (ごく)の容 (よう)子 (す)を御 (ご)覧 (らん)になりながら、この犍 (かん)陀 (だ)多 (た)には蜘 (ク)蛛 (モ)を助 (たす)けた事 (こと)があるのを御 (お)思 (おも)い出 (だ)しになりました。

     O-shaka-sama wa jigoku no yōsu o goran ni narinagara, kono Kandata ni wa kumo o tasuketa koto ga aru no o o-omoidashi ni narimashita.

     While observing the state of Hell, Shakyamuni recalled that this Kandata had once spared a spider.

   • 1999 March 27, “蜘蛛クモ男おとこ [Werespider]”, in Vol.2, Konami:

     巨 (きょ)大 (だい)クモが知 (ち)恵 (え)をつけた姿 (すがた)。糸 (いと)を吐 (は)き動 (うご)きを封 (ふう)じ込 (こ)める。

     Kyodai kumo ga chie o tsuketa sugata. Ito o haki ugoki o fūjikomeru.

     This giant spider appears to be quite intelligent. It will lock your every movement with its threads.

   • 1999 July 22, “ハンター・スパイダー [Hunter Spider]”, in Vol.4, Konami:

     クモの巣 (す)の罠 (わな)を仕 (し)掛 (か)け狩 (か)りをする。罠 (わな)にかかったものは食 (た)べてしまう。

     Kumo no su no wana o shikakekari o suru. Wana ni kakatta mono wa tabete shimau.

     It hunts by laying its spiderweb traps, and it eats whatever gets tangled in them.

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

From Middle Chinese 蜘蛛 (ʈiᴇ ʈɨo). Compare modern Hakka reading tî-tû, Min Dong tĭ-tṳ̆, Min Nan ti-tu. Probably borrowed at a different time or from a different dialect than chichu below.

• On’yomi
  • IPA^(key): [t͡ɕit͡ɕɨᵝː]

蜘蛛 (hiragana ちちゅう, rōmaji chichū)

1. spider

From Middle Chinese 蜘蛛 (ʈiᴇ ʈɨo). Compare modern Hakka reading tî-tû, Min Dong tĭ-tṳ̆, Min Nan ti-tu. Probably borrowed at a different time or from a different dialect than chichū above.

• On’yomi
  • (Tokyo) ちちゅ [chìchú] (Heiban – [0])[1]
  • IPA^(key): [t͡ɕit͡ɕɨᵝ]

蜘蛛 (hiragana ちちゅ, rōmaji chichu)

1. spider

From Middle Chinese 蜘蛛 (ʈiᴇ ʈɨo). This reading is the kan'yōyomi, and is thus a later phonetic shift after borrowing.

• On’yomi
  • (Tokyo) ち​しゅ [chíꜜshù] (Atamadaka – [1])[1]
  • IPA^(key): [t͡ɕiɕɨᵝ]

蜘蛛 (hiragana ちしゅ, rōmaji chishu)

1. spider

蜘蛛 • (jiju) (hangeul 지주)

1. Hanja form^? of 지주 (“spider”).

• IPA^(key): /kuːbaː/

蜘蛛 (hiragana くーばー, romaji kūbā)

1. spider

蜘蛛 (hiragana こぶ, romaji kobu)

1. spider

蜘蛛

1. Hán tự form of tri chu (“spider”).

• IPA^(key): /kubu/

蜘蛛 (hiragana くぶ, romaji kubu)

1. spider