Chinese

spoon mustard

Noun

塌菜

1. Brassica rapa subsp. narinosa (syns. Brassica narinosa, Brasica rapa var. narinosa, Brassica rapa var. rosularis), an edible green vegetable known variously in English as tatsoi, spinach mustard, spoon mustard, or rosette bok choy.

Japanese

塌菜 (tātsai, tāsai): a head of tatsoi greens.

Etymology 1

From Mandarin 塌菜 ‎(tācài).^[1][2]

Pronunciation

• (Irregular reading)
• (Tokyo) タ​ーツァイ [táꜜàtsàì] (Atamadaka - [1])^[1]
• IPA^(key): [ta̠ːt͡sa̠i]

Noun

塌菜 ‎(katakana ターツァイ, romaji tātsai)

1. Brassica rapa subsp. narinosa (syns. Brassica narinosa, Brasica rapa var. narinosa, Brassica rapa var. rosularis), an edible green vegetable known variously in English as tatsoi, spinach mustard, spoon mustard, or rosette bok choy

Etymology 2

Shift in pronunciation from tātsai above,^[2] changing the tsa sound to sa in conformance with native Japanese phonetics.

Pronunciation

• (Irregular reading)
• (Tokyo) タ​ーサイ [táꜜàsàì] (Atamadaka - [1])
• IPA^(key): [ta̠ːsa̠i]

Noun

塌菜 ‎(katakana ターサイ, katakana タアサイ, romaji tāsai)

1. Brassica narinosa or Brassica rapa var. rosularis, an edible green vegetable known variously in English as tatsoi, spinach mustard, spoon mustard, or rosette bok choy

Usage notes

The tāsai reading fits into native Japanese phonetics, and may be more common among some speakers. Some sources ^[1][2] suggest that the tātsai reading might be considered more correct.

References

1. 1 2 3 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13905-9
2. 1 2 3 1995, 大辞泉 (Daijisen) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, ISBN 4-09-501211-0