肩甲骨

肩甲骨

Japanese

Kanji in this term
肩	甲	骨
けん Grade: S	こう Grade: S	こつ Grade: 6
kan’on

Alternative spelling
肩胛骨

Etymology

Probably from written Chinese 肩胛骨. The original sense in Chinese is unclear; it may have been shoulder blade, scapula, or it may have been more generally just shoulder bone.

First cited in Japanese in a medical dictionary from 1872.[1]

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) けんこ​ーこつ [kèńkóꜜòkòtsù] (Nakadaka – [3])[2]
• IPA^(key): [kẽ̞ŋko̞ːko̞t͡sɨᵝ]

Noun

肩(けん)甲(こう)骨(こつ) • (kenkōkotsu) ^{←けんかふこつ (kenkafukotu)?}

1. shoulder blade, scapula

Usage notes

This was originally written as 肩胛骨. The more common modern spelling 肩甲骨 uses the slightly simpler character 甲 instead of 胛.

See also

• 肩(けん)甲(こう) (kenkō, “shoulder (anatomy)”)
• 肩(かた)甲(よろい) (kata yoroi, “shoulder armor, such as a spaulder or pauldron”)

References

1. “肩甲骨・肩胛骨”, in 日本国語大辞典 (Nihon Kokugo Daijiten, “Nihon Kokugo Daijiten”)‎ (in Japanese), 2nd edition, Tōkyō: Shogakukan, 2000, →ISBN
2. 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN