海蛍

Japanese

Kanji in this term
海	蛍
うみ Grade: 2	ほたる Grade: S
kun'yomi

Alternative spellings
海螢 (kyūjitai) 海ほたる

Etymology

From 海(うみ) (umi, “sea”) + 蛍(ほたる) (hotaru, “firefly”).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) うみほ​たる [ùmíhóꜜtàrù] (Nakadaka – [3])
• IPA^(key): [ɯ̟ᵝmʲiho̞ta̠ɾɯ̟ᵝ]

Noun

海(うみ)蛍(ほたる) or 海蛍(ウミホタル) • (umihotaru) 

1. sea-firefly, Vargula hilgendorfii, a small bioluminescent ostracod found in Japan

Usage notes

As with many terms that name organisms, this term is often spelled in katakana, especially in biological contexts (where katakana is customary).

Descendants

• → English: sea-firefly (calque)