アシカ

Don't confuse with

• アザラシ

  アザラシ (earless seal) lacks visible ear flaps and cannot walk on land, while アシカ (sea lion) has ear flaps and can move on its flippers.

Written forms

• アシカUsage89%
  kana-only spelling

  Usually written in katakana; the hiragana spelling あしか is also common.

• あしかUsage11%

  Hiragana spelling; katakana is more common for animal names.

• 海驢
  rarely-used kanji form
  • あしか

    Rarely used kanji form; the reading みち is obsolete.

  • みち

    out-dated reading
• 葦あし鹿か
  rarely-used kanji form

  Rarely used kanji form.

• 海馬あしか
  rarely-used kanji form

  Rarely used kanji form; also read かいば (hippocampus) or うみうま (sea horse).

• みち
  out-dated reading

Etymology

The word あしか is of uncertain origin. It may be related to 足 (あし, 'foot') and 鹿 (か, 'deer'), but this is speculative. The kanji forms 海驢, 葦鹿, and 海馬 are ateji and rarely used.