シモツケ

シ

モ

ツ

ケ

Meanings

Japanese spirea; meadowsweet

usually written using kana aloneabbreviation

Refers to the plant Spiraea japonica. The name is an abbreviation of 下毛野 (Shimotsuke-no), an old name for the region where the plant was first discovered.

Kanji

下below, down, descend
野plains, field, rustic
繍sew, figured cloth
線line, track
菊chrysanthemum

Don't confuse with

下げ野や
Written with the same kanji, 下野 read しもつけ is the old name of a province (in present-day Tochigi), completely unrelated to 下野 (げや) meaning resignation from office.

Word family

しもつけそう
meadowsweet (Filipendula multijuga)
ホザキシモツケ
Spiraea salicifolia; willowleaf meadowsweet

Written forms

シモツケUsage14%
kana-only spelling
Katakana spelling is common for this plant name; usually written in kana.
下野しもつけUsage79%
Kanji spelling for the plant; rarely used in modern writing. Also the historical province name (sense 2).
しもつけUsage7%
Hiragana spelling, also used.
繍線菊しもつけ
Obscure kanji spelling for the plant; not in common use.

Etymology

The plant name シモツケ is an abbreviation of 下毛野 (Shimotsuke-no), referring to the old province where it was first found. The historical province name 下野 (Shimotsuke) shares the same origin.