海豚

Chinese

		ocean; sea	suckling pig
trad. (海豚)		海	豚
simp. ^#(海豚)		海	豚

Etymology

Native formation, attested abundantly in the Classical era. Also 海豨 (hǎixī, literally “sea-pig”), 江豚 (jiāngtún, literally “river-pig”). Semantically compare English mereswine (“porpoise or dolphin”, literally “sea-pig”).

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): hǎitún

(Zhuyin): ㄏㄞˇ ㄊㄨㄣˊ
Cantonese (Jyutping): hoi² tyun⁴
Hakka (Sixian, PFS): hói-thùn
Southern Min
(Hokkien, POJ): hái-thûn

(Teochew, Peng'im): hai² tung⁵
Wu (Shanghai, Wugniu): ⁵he-den

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: hǎitún
  - Zhuyin: ㄏㄞˇ ㄊㄨㄣˊ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: hǎitún
  - Wade–Giles: hai³-tʻun²
  - Yale: hǎi-twún
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: haetwen
  - Palladius: хайтунь (xajtunʹ)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /xaɪ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ tʰu̯ən³⁵/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
  - Jyutping: hoi² tyun⁴
  - Yale: hói tyùhn
  - Cantonese Pinyin: hoi² tyn⁴
  - Guangdong Romanization: hoi² tün⁴
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /hɔːi̯³⁵ tʰyːn²¹/
Hakka
- (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Neipu)
  - Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: hói-thùn
  - Hakka Romanization System: hoi^ˋ tun^ˇ
  - Hagfa Pinyim: hoi³ tun²
  - Sinological IPA: /hoi̯³¹ tʰun¹¹/
Southern Min
- (Hokkien)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: hái-thûn
  - Tâi-lô: hái-thûn
  - Phofsit Daibuun: hay'tuun
  - IPA (Xiamen): /hai⁵³⁻⁴⁴ tʰun²⁴/
  - IPA (Quanzhou): /hai⁵⁵⁴⁻²⁴ tʰun²⁴/
  - IPA (Zhangzhou): /hai⁵³⁻⁴⁴ tʰun¹³/
  - IPA (Taipei): /hai⁵³⁻⁴⁴ tʰun²⁴/
  - IPA (Kaohsiung): /hai⁴¹⁻⁴⁴ tʰun²³/
- (Teochew)
  - Peng'im: hai² tung⁵
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: hái thûng
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /hai⁵²⁻³⁵ tʰuŋ⁵⁵/
Wu
- (Northern: Shanghai)
  - Wugniu: ⁵he-den
  - MiniDict: he^去 den
  - Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ²he-den
  - Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /he³³ dən⁴⁴/

Middle Chinese: xojX dwon

Rime
Character	海	豚
Reading #	1/1	1/1
Initial (聲)	曉 (32)	定 (7)
Final (韻)	咍 (41)	魂 (55)
Tone (調)	Rising (X)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open	Closed
Division (等)	I	I
Fanqie	呼改切	徒渾切
Baxter	xojX	dwon
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/hʌi^X/	/duən/
Pan Wuyun	/həi^X/	/duon/
Shao Rongfen	/xɒi^X/	/duən/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/həj^X/	/dwən/
Li Rong	/xᴀi^X/	/duən/
Wang Li	/xɒi^X/	/duən/
Bernhard Karlgren	/xɑ̆i^X/	/dʱuən/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	hǎi	tún
Expected Cantonese Reflex	hoi²	teon⁴

Noun

海豚

dolphin

Synonyms

Dialectal synonyms of 海豚 (“dolphin”) [map]

Variety	Location	Words edit
Classical Chinese		海豨
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		海豚
Taxonomic name		海豚
Northeastern Mandarin	Taiwan	海豚
Northeastern Mandarin	Singapore	海豚
Cantonese	Guangzhou	海豬, 海豚
Cantonese	Hong Kong	海豚
Hakka	Miaoli (N. Sixian)	海豚, 海豬
	Pingtung (Neipu; S. Sixian)	海豚
	Hsinchu County (Zhudong; Hailu)	海豚
	Taichung (Dongshi; Dabu)	海豚
	Hsinchu County (Qionglin; Raoping)	海豚
	Yunlin (Lunbei; Zhao'an)	海豬
Southern Min	Xiamen	白鰗, 海豬, 媽祖婆魚, 媽祖魚, 鎮港魚
	Zhangzhou	白鰗, 媽祖婆魚, 媽祖魚, 鎮港魚
	Taipei	海豬仔
	Taipei (Wanhua)	海豬
	New Taipei (Sanxia)	海豬仔
	Kaohsiung	海豬, 烏鯃
	Yilan	海豬仔, 海豬
	Changhua (Lukang)	海豬仔, 海豬
	Taichung	海豬
	Taichung (Wuqi)	海豬
	Tainan	海豬仔, 海豬
	Taitung	海豬
	Taitung (Green Island)	烏鯃
	Hsinchu	海豬, 海豬仔
	Pingtung (Liuqiu)	烏鯃
	Kinmen	海豬
	Penghu (Magong)	海鼠, 烏鯃
	Penghu (Pengnan)	海鼠
	Penghu (Xiyu)	海鼠
	Penghu (Huxi)	海鼠
	Penghu (Wangan)	海鼠
	Penghu (Cimei)	海鼠, 烏鯃
	Penghu (Huayu)	烏鯃
	Penghu (Zhongtun)	海鼠
	Penghu (Houliao)	海鼠
	Penghu (Tongliang)	海鼠, 烏鯃, 白鯃
	Penghu (Jibei)	烏鯃, 白鯃
	Singapore (Hokkien)	海豬
	Nan'ao (Houzhai)	白吳
Puxian Min	Putian	海豬
Puxian Min	Xianyou	海豬
Wu	Shanghai	海豚

Derived terms

寬吻海豚／宽吻海豚 (kuānwěn hǎitún)
海豚座 (Hǎitúnzuò)
海豚泳
鼠海豚 (shǔhǎitún)

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (海豚):

→ Korean: 해돈(海豚) (haedon)

Japanese

Japanese Wikipedia has an article on:

海豚

Wikipedia ^ja

English Wikipedia has an article on:

Dolphin

Wikipedia

Etymology

Kanji in this term
海	豚
いるか
Grade: 2	Grade: S
jukujikun

Alternative spellings
海豚 (kyūjitai) 鯆 (rare)

From Old Japanese. Attested in the Kojiki of 712 CE with the phonetic spelling 入鹿魚.^[1]

Further etymology Uncertain. One of the possible native-Japanese theories is that this was originally a compound of Old Japanese elements 魚 (iwo, “fish”) +‎ 食 (uka, “food, something used as food”), with the following sound shifts.

/iwo uka/ → /iru uka/ → /iruka/

Another possibility is that it was a borrowing from Ainu. Compare Sakhalin Ainu リク (riku), イリク (iriku), or Kuril Ainu リカ (rika, “whale”).^[2]^[3] Given the unlikely sound shift required for the Old Japanese derivation and the lack of cognates in the Ryukyuan languages (see Proto-Ryukyuan *peto), an origin from Ainu seems more likely.

The spelling 海豚, which literally means “sea pig”, is from Chinese 海豚 (hǎitún).

Pronunciation

(Tokyo) いるか [ìrúká] (Heiban – [0])^[4]^[5]
IPA^(key): [iɾɯ̟ka̠]

Noun

海豚(いるか) or 海豚(イルカ) • (iruka)

a dolphin or porpoise (the mammal)

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 イルカ.

Derived terms

海豚(いるか)座(ざ) (Irukaza): Dolphin constellation, Delphinus
鼠海豚(ねずみいるか) (nezumi iruka): harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena)

References

^ Omodaka, Hisataka (1967) 時代別国語大辞典上代編 [The dictionary of historical Japanese: Old Japanese] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN, page 107
^ Vovin, Alexander (2022) “Ainu elements in early Japonic”, in Handbook of the Ainu Language, →DOI
^ 2005, Martine Robbeets (2005:190) Is Japanese Related to Korean, Tungusic, Mongolic and Turkic?
^ NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN
^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN

Kikai

Kanji in this term
海	豚
Grade: 2	Grade: S

Alternative spelling
海豚 (kyūjitai)

Etymology

From Proto-Ryukyuan *peto (“dolphin”). Cognate with Okinawan 海豚(ふぃーとぅ) (fītu).

Noun

海豚(ふぃとぅ) or 海豚(ぴとぅ) (fitu or pitu)

dolphin

Kunigami

Kanji in this term
海	豚
Grade: 2	Grade: S

Alternative spelling
海豚 (kyūjitai)

Etymology

From Proto-Ryukyuan *peto (“dolphin”). Cognate with Okinawan 海豚(ふぃーとぅ) (fītu).

Noun

海豚(ひーとぅい) (hīthui)

dolphin

Northern Amami Ōshima

Kanji in this term
海	豚
Grade: 2	Grade: S

Alternative spelling
海豚 (kyūjitai)

Etymology

From Proto-Ryukyuan *peto (“dolphin”). Cognate with Okinawan 海豚(ふぃーとぅ) (fītu).

Noun

海豚(ふとぅ) (hutu)

dolphin

Okinawan

Kanji in this term
海	豚
Grade: 2	Grade: S

Alternative spelling
海豚 (kyūjitai)

Etymology

From Proto-Ryukyuan *peto (“dolphin”).

Noun

海豚(ふぃーとぅ) (fītu)

dolphin

Southern Amami Ōshima

Kanji in this term
海	豚
Grade: 2	Grade: S

Alternative spelling
海豚 (kyūjitai)

Etymology

From Proto-Ryukyuan *peto (“dolphin”). Cognate with Okinawan 海豚(ふぃーとぅ) (fītu).

Noun

海豚(ふとぅ) (hutu)

dolphin

[JDB-1] Omodaka, Hisataka (1967) 時代別国語大辞典上代編 [The dictionary of historical Japanese: Old Japanese] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN, page 107

[aintojpx-2] Vovin, Alexander (2022) “Ainu elements in early Japonic”, in Handbook of the Ainu Language, →DOI

[fuckaltaic-3] 2005, Martine Robbeets (2005:190) Is Japanese Related to Korean, Tungusic, Mongolic and Turkic?

[NHK-4] NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN

[DJR-5] Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

Chinese

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Synonyms

Derived terms

Descendants

Japanese

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Usage notes

Derived terms

See also

References

Kikai

Etymology

Noun

Kunigami

Etymology

Noun

Northern Amami Ōshima

Etymology

Noun

Okinawan

Etymology

Noun

Southern Amami Ōshima

Etymology

Noun