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海老 (えび, ebi) Japanese meaning: shrimp | Kotomora
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は
エビフライ
です
。
Tonight's dinner is fried shrimp.
I put sweet shrimp on the sushi.
Usage patterns 海え 老び を 剥む く to peel/shell a shrimp
I shelled the shrimp before cooking.
腰こし が 海え 老び のように 曲ま がる for one's back to become bent like a shrimp (from old age)
The old woman's back was bent like a shrimp.
海え 老び が 跳は ねる for a shrimp to spring/leap
The live shrimp is jumping around in the tank.
Expressions 海老えび で 鯛たい を 釣つ る get big returns on a small investment; throw a sprat to catch a mackerel 鱧はも も 一いち 期ご 、 海老えび も 一いち 期ご all lives are alike; we all live and die the same; a pike conger has one life, a shrimp does too Kanji 老 old man, old age, grow old Don't confuse with 海老 is the broad general term for shrimp/prawns/lobsters, while 伊勢海老 names one specific prized species, the spiny lobster.
海老 is the umbrella word for the whole crustacean group, whereas 車海老 refers specifically to the kuruma prawn often served at sushi counters.
Written forms 海老えび Usage 26%
Standard kanji spelling, especially in culinary and formal contexts.
エビ Usage 50%
kana-only spelling
Katakana spelling often used in menus, biological contexts, or for emphasis.
えび Usage 22%
Common kana spelling; usually written in kana.
蝦えび Usage 1%
Etymology The origin is uncertain. The kanji 海老 (literally 'sea old') is an ateji based on the curved shape of a shrimp resembling an old person's back. The reading えび is native Japanese, with no clear derivation.
sakura shrimp; Lucensosergia lucens
large shrimp; king prawn; lobster
gammaridean amphipod; side-swimmer
Show 7 more goldfish with a shrimp-like tail · head of a shamisen or lute (bent back like a shrimp's tail)
Calanthe discolor; ebine orchid
shrimp-shaped taro variety
maroon; reddish-brown
crayfish; crawfish; red swamp crayfish
shrimp-shaped lock; curved lock for gate bolts · padlock
giant tiger prawn; black tiger prawn
Rare kanji form; it is rarely used.
蛯えび Usage <1%
rarely-used kanji form
Rare kanji form; it is rarely used.
鰕えび Usage <1%
rarely-used kanji form
Rare kanji form; it is rarely used.
