扁桃

Chinese

		flat; tablet; inscription flat; tablet; inscription; small boat	peach
trad. (扁桃)		扁	桃
simp. #(扁桃)		扁	桃
alternative forms		偏桃 匾桃

Etymology

A Central Asian import during the Medieval period. Perhaps a phono-semantic matching of Persian بادام (bâdâm, “almond”) (as per Cihai), semantically construed as the “flat peach”.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): biǎntáo

  (Zhuyin): ㄅㄧㄢˇ ㄊㄠˊ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): bin² tou⁴

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: biǎntáo
    • Zhuyin: ㄅㄧㄢˇ ㄊㄠˊ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: biǎntáo
    • Wade–Giles: pien³-tʻao²
    • Yale: byǎn-táu
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: beantaur
    • Palladius: бяньтао (bjanʹtao)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /pi̯ɛn²¹⁴⁻²¹ tʰɑʊ̯³⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: bin² tou⁴
    • Yale: bín tòuh
    • Cantonese Pinyin: bin² tou⁴
    • Guangdong Romanization: bin² tou⁴
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /piːn³⁵ tʰou̯²¹/

Noun

扁桃

1. almond (the plant Prunus amygdalus or its fruit)
2. flat peach

Synonyms

• (almond): 巴旦木 (bādànmù), 巴旦杏 (bādànxìng), 杏仁 (xìngrén)
• (flat peach): 蟠桃 (pántáo)

Derived terms

• 扁桃腺 (biǎntáoxiàn)
• 扁桃體／扁桃体 (biǎntáotǐ)

 

Japanese

扁桃 (hentō): the tonsils.

Kanji in this term
扁	桃
へん Hyōgaiji	とう Grade: S
on’yomi

Etymology

/pentau/ → /fentau/ → /hentau/ → /hentɔː/ → /hentoː/

From Middle Chinese compound 扁桃 (pen^X daw, literally “flat, thin + peach”), from the way the almond fruit resembles a flat, thin peach.

The modern sense of tonsil came about by contraction from the full term 扁桃腺 (hentōsen, literally “almond gland”).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) へんとー [hèńtóó] (Heiban – [0])
• IPA^(key): [hẽ̞nto̞ː]

Noun

扁(へん)桃(とう) or 扁桃(ヘントウ) • (hentō) ^{←へんたう (fentau)?}

1. almond
2. tonsil (from the almond shape)

Synonyms

• (almond): 巴旦杏(はたんきょう) (hatankyō), アーモンド (āmondo)
• (tonsil): 扁桃腺(へんとうせん) (hentōsen)

Derived terms

Derived terms

• 苦扁桃(くへんとう) (kuhentō): bitter almond
• 苦扁桃油(くへんとうゆ) (kuhentōyu): bitter almond oil
• 苦扁桃水(くへんとうすい) (kuhentōsui): bitter almond oil dissolved in water
• 扁桃炎(へんとうえん) (hentōen): tonsillitis
• 扁桃核(へんとうかく) (hentōkaku): amygdala
• 扁桃腺(へんとうせん) (hentōsen): tonsil
• 扁桃腺炎(へんとうせんえん) (hentōsen'en): tonsillitis
• 扁桃腺切除(へんとうせんせつじょ) (hentōsen setsujo): tonsillectomy
• 扁桃肥大(へんとうひだい) (hentō hidai): enlarged tonsils, tonsillar hypertrophy
• 扁桃体(へんとうたい) (hentōtai): amygdala
• 扁桃油(へんとうゆ) (hentōyu): almond oil

References

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