Definify.com

Definition 2024

波布

波布

Japanese

波布 (habu): the habu pit viper.
Kanji in this term
波 布
は
Grade: 3 		ふ > ぶ
Grade: 5
on'yomi

Alternative forms

Noun

波布 ‎(hiragana はぶ, katakana ハブ, romaji habu)

  1. Trimeresurus flavoviridis (syn. Protobothrops flavoviridis), a species of venomous pit viper native to Okinawa

Usage notes

As with many terms that name organisms, this term is often spelled in katakana in biological contexts, as ハブ.

Derived terms

Descendants

References

  1. ↑ 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13905-9
  2. ↑ 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, ISBN 978-4-14-011112-3

Miyako

Etymology

Cognate with mainland Japanese 蛇 ‎(hebi).

Alternative forms

Noun

波布 ‎(hiragana ぱゔ, romaji pav)

  1. snake, viper, Okinawan habu

Okinawan

Etymology

Cognate with mainland Japanese 蛇 ‎(hebi).

Alternative forms

Noun

波布 ‎(hiragana はぶ, romaji habu)

  1. snake, viper, Okinawan habu

Etymology

Various theories exist.

  • Possibly an alteration from 反鼻 ‎(hanbi), an obsolete term for a kind of Chinese medicine made from the skin and/or organs of certain venomous snakes.
  • More likely, may be an alteration from 蛇 ‎(hebi, “snake”). Some dialects distinguish between non-poisonous hebi and poisonous habi.
  • Possibly also related to, or influenced by, Old Japanese-derived verb 食む ‎(hamu, “to bite”). An /m/ - /b/ alternation can be found in some Japanese words, so a shift from hamu to habu is a reasonable possibility. The standard modern Japanese word hebi for “snake” may similarly be derived from, or have been influenced by, hamu “to bite”.

The kanji spelling 波布 is an example of ateji, with the characters chosen purely for their phonetic values.

Pronunciation

Similar Results