筋すじ子こ

also: すずこ

す

じ

こ

Freq.FrequencyTop 50,000

Meanings

noun

salted salmon roe (in the skein)

food / cooking

Refers to salmon eggs that are still in the intact ovary membrane and salted. Contrasts with イクラ, which are the individual eggs separated from the skein.

Kanji

筋muscle, sinew, tendon
子child, sign of the rat, 11PM-1AM

Don't confuse with

イクラ
イクラ refers to loose, separated salted salmon eggs, whereas 筋子 is the whole egg sac before the eggs are separated.

Built from

筋すじ+子こ

Written forms

筋子Usage65%
- すじこ
  Standard kanji spelling for salted salmon roe still in the skein.
- すずこ
  Alternate reading すずこ is dialectal or older; すじこ is the modern standard.
すじこUsage29%
Kana spelling is common in everyday writing, especially in recipes and casual contexts.
すずこUsage6%

Etymology

The kanji 筋 (すじ) means 'line' or 'muscle', and 子 (こ) means 'child' or 'egg', referring to the eggs still connected in the skein. The reading すずこ is a dialectal variant.