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+--- Thread: 貝≠貝 (/thread-5072.html)
貝≠貝 - JimmySeal - 2010-02-23
I recently made the (possibly useless) discovery that the vast majority of names for shelled mollusks don't actually contain the 貝 primitive as a sub unit (though many contain the unembellished 貝 character as a suffix).
The following are all names for various types of 貝:
浅蜊
蛤
栄螺
鮑
牡蠣
蝸牛
蛞蝓
蜆
玉珧
田螺
蛽 (with alternate spellings 海蠃 and 海螄)
雨降
Just thought I'd share with everyone.
貝≠貝 - Jarvik7 - 2010-02-23
貝 is apparently just a specific type of shellfish (bivalve). I've always sucked at flora & fauna names though.
貝≠貝 - Codexus - 2010-02-23
Indeed. 虫 seems to be the general primitive for all the creepy crawlies. 貝 is more often used in money related kanji.
貝≠貝 - Jarvik7 - 2010-02-23
虫 was apparently originally just for classifications of animal types, while 蟲 meant what we typically think of as a bug.
Quote:名}動物の総称。羽虫は鳥類、毛虫は獣類、甲虫は亀カメ類、鱗虫（リンチュウ）は魚類、裸虫は人類のこと。
貝≠貝 - JimmySeal - 2010-02-23
Jarvik7 Wrote:貝 is apparently just a specific type of shellfish (bivalve).I don't think this is true. I think any mollusk with a shell (and possibly some without) would be considered 貝. (c.f. 巻貝) If that weren't the case, they wouldn't need to qualify the word to get the term 二枚貝.
貝≠貝 - Jarvik7 - 2010-02-23
Quote:二つにわれるかい。のち転じて、かいの総称The term has been seemingly generalized, but its etymology suggests why few shellfish names contain the character.