分銅

Japanese

分銅: traditional Japanese fundō weights, used to weigh coinage.

分銅: Western-style fundō.

分銅: the fundō family crest.

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
分	銅
ふん Grade: 2	どう Grade: 5
on’yomi

Uncertain. Given the kan'yōyomi of dō for the 銅 character, probably a Japanese coinage from Middle Chinese-derived elements, as a compound of 分 (fun, a unit of weight, roughly 375 milligrams) +‎ 銅 (dō, “copper”).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) ふんどー [fùńdóó] (Heiban – [0])
• IPA^(key): [ɸɯ̟̃ᵝndo̞ː]

Noun

分(ふん)銅(どう) • (fundō) 

1. a metal weight, often made of copper, used in a balance scale; traditionally had a kind of hourglass shape
2. any gold or silver ingot cast in an hourglass shape; such ingots were formerly kept as emergency savings
3. (obsolete, slang) a 二朱銀 (nishugin, “Edo-period coin of refined silver”)
4. any other weight used with a balance scale
5. a 家紋 (kamon, “family crest”) in the shape of a stylized fundō weight

Derived terms

• 分銅座(ふんどうざ) (Fundō-za): the weights guild: tasked by the Edo shogunate with standardizing weights and controlling their manufacture and distribution; abolished in February 1876
• 分銅桜(ふんどうざくら) (fundō-zakura): a 家紋 (kamon, “family crest”) in the shape of a 桜 (sakura, “cherry blossom”), with each petal depicted using a fundō shape

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
分	銅
ふん Grade: 2	どん Grade: 5
on’yomi	irregular

Alteration from fundō. Non-standard reading of don for 銅 may indicate influence from early Mandarin or Cantonese readings (modern tóng and tung²), or perhaps more likely, influence from an early version of Korean 銅 (dong).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ɸɯ̟̃ᵝndõ̞ɴ]

Noun

分(ふん)銅(どん) • (fundon) 

1. a fundō weight
2. a silver weight or 橙 (daidai, “bitter orange”) tied to the end of a bit of string, used in a 宝引き (hōbiki, a kind of lottery or draw straws)
3. a shape that is pinched in the middle like a fundō weight

Etymology 3

Kanji in this term
分	銅
ぶん Grade: 2	どう Grade: 5
on’yomi

Alteration from fundō, using the [[呉音#Japanese|goon]] reading of bun for the 分 character.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [bɯ̟̃ᵝndo̞ː]

Noun

分(ぶん)銅(どう) • (bundō) 

1. a weight

Derived terms

• 分銅秤(ぶんどうばかり) (bundō-bakari): a balance scale

References

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