ミミズク

Don't confuse with

• フクロウ

  フクロウ is the general term for owls without ear tufts, while ミミズク refers specifically to horned owl species that have prominent feather tufts on their heads.

Word family

• ワシミミズク

  Eurasian eagle owl

• コミミズク

  short-eared owl

• アメリカワシミミズク

  great horned owl

Written forms

• ミミズクUsage29%
  kana-only spelling

  Katakana spelling is common and matches usual-kana usage.

• みみずくUsage45%
  gikun (meaning-based reading) or jukujikun

  Hiragana spelling; also common; usually written in kana.

• 木菟みみずくUsage26%
  gikun (meaning-based reading) or jukujikun

  Kanji form; rarely used in practice. The reading is a jukujikun.

• 角鴟みみずく
  rarely-used kanji formgikun (meaning-based reading) or jukujikun

  Rarely used kanji form.

• 鴟鵂みみずく
  rarely-used kanji formgikun (meaning-based reading) or jukujikun

  Rarely used kanji form.

Etymology

The word ミミズク is a native Japanese term, likely derived from 耳 (mimi, 'ear') and 付く (tsuku, 'attached'), referring to the ear-like tufts. The exact historical derivation is uncertain.