天草

Chinese

		day; sky; heaven	grass; straw; draft (of a document) grass; straw; draft (of a document); careless; rough; manuscript; hasty
trad. (天草)		天	草
simp. #(天草)		天	草

Etymology

Orthographic borrowing from Japanese 天草 (Amakusa).

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): Tiāncǎo

  (Zhuyin): ㄊㄧㄢ ㄘㄠˇ

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: Tiāncǎo
    • Zhuyin: ㄊㄧㄢ ㄘㄠˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: Tiancǎo
    • Wade–Giles: Tʻien¹-tsʻao³
    • Yale: Tyān-tsǎu
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: Tiantsao
    • Palladius: Тяньцао (Tjanʹcao)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /tʰi̯ɛn⁵⁵ t͡sʰɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/

Proper noun

天草

1. (～市) Amakusa (a city in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan)

Japanese

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
天	草
あま Grade: 1	くさ Grade: 1
kun'yomi

Compound of 天 (ama, “heavens”) +‎ 草 (kusa, “grass, plant”).

The surname likely comes from the place name, the derivation of which is uncertain. Theories include:

• Named for the 海人 (ama, “sea people”) 草 (kusa, “tribe”) that lived in the archipelago in the region, as reported in the Nihon Shoki (720 CE)
• Named for the 甘草 (kanzō, “licorice”, literally “sweet grass”, alternative reading amakusa) harvested in the area
• Shift from 馬草 (makusa, umakusa, literally “horse grass”) from grazing areas in the region

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [a̠ma̠kɯ̟sa̠]

Proper noun

天(あま)草(くさ) • (Amakusa) 

1. Amakusa (a city in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan)
2. a rare surname

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
天	草
てん Grade: 1	くさ > ぐさ Grade: 1
jūbakoyomi

Compound of 天 (ten, “heavens”) +‎ 草 (kusa, “grass, plant”). The kusa changes to gusa as an instance of rendaku (連濁).

Uses the on'yomi of ten for the 天 character.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) てんぐさ [tèńgúsá] (Heiban – [0])
• IPA^(key): [tẽ̞ŋɡɯ̟sa̠]

Noun

天(てん)草(ぐさ) or 天草(テングサ) • (tengusa) 

1. any of the red algae of the genus Gelidium
2. agar

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 テングサ.

See also

• 寒天(かんてん) (kanten)
• 心太(ところてん) (tokoroten)

Further reading

• Etymology at Nihonjiten (in Japanese)