The central structural beam running along the bottom of a ship or boat.
船の竜骨はオーク材で作られていた。
The ship's keel was made of oak.
dragon bone; longgu
Traditional Chinese medicine term for fossilized bone used as a crude drug; also known as Fossilia ossis mastodi.
漢方では、竜骨は鎮静作用があるとされる。
In Kampo medicine, dragon bone is said to have a calming effect.
keel (bird bone); carina
Standard modern kanji spelling.
Contains the older form 龍; still encountered but less common than 竜骨.
From Chinese 龍骨／龙骨 (lónggǔ), literally 'dragon bone'. The shipbuilding sense is a semantic extension based on the shape resembling a backbone.