ヒメエゾボラ

Meanings

arthritic neptune; Neptunea arthritica

usually written using kana alone

A species of whelk found in East Asian waters. The name is a biological term; in everyday contexts it may simply be called a type of バイ or ツブ.

ヒメエゾボラは北ほっ海かい道どうの沿えん岸がんで見みられる巻まき貝がいの一いっ種しゅです。
The arthritic neptune is a type of sea snail found along the coast of Hokkaido.
市いち場ばでヒメエゾボラを買かってきて、つぼ焼やきにした。
I bought some arthritic neptune at the market and grilled them in their shells.

Kanji

姫princess
蝦shrimp, prawn, lobster
夷barbarian, savage, Ainu
法method, law, rule
螺small, edible, helical fresh-water mollusk

Related words

エゾボラ
エゾボラ (Neptunea polycostata) is a larger, more common whelk species; ヒメエゾボラ is smaller and less frequently encountered.

Built from

姫ひめ+エゾボラ

Written forms

ひめえぞぼら
Hiragana spelling, also used but less common than katakana for this organism.
姫蝦夷法螺ひめえぞぼら
Kanji spelling is very rare and mostly seen in taxonomic contexts; the word is usually written in kana.

Etymology

The name combines 姫 (hime, 'princess' or 'small and delicate') with 蝦夷 (Ezo, old name for Hokkaido) and 法螺 (bora, 'whelk'), literally 'small Ezo whelk'. The exact derivation is uncertain, but it likely refers to its smaller size compared to the common エゾボラ.