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スルメイカ (するめいか) Japanese meaning | Kotomora

スルメイカ

す

る

め

い

か

Meanings

1

noun

Japanese common squid; Pacific flying squid

usually written using kana alone

Todarodes pacificus, a commercially important squid species in Japan. Often dried to make surume (するめ).

スルメイカは日本にほん近きん海かいでよく獲とれる。
Japanese common squid are often caught in the waters around Japan.
スルメイカを干ほしてするめを作つくる。
They dry Japanese common squid to make surume.

Written forms

スルメイカUsage73%
kana-only spelling
Usually written in katakana; the kanji form 鯣烏賊 is rare and mainly seen in specialized contexts.
するめいかUsage27%
Hiragana spelling is also used, but katakana is more common for this animal name.
鯣烏賊するめいか
Rare kanji spelling; the characters are not commonly used in everyday writing.

Kanji

鯣

cuttlefish

烏crow, raven

賊burglar, rebel, traitor

Similar words

するめ
するめ is dried squid, often made from スルメイカ, but the term can refer to dried squid in general.
イカ
イカ is the general word for squid; スルメイカ specifies the species Todarodes pacificus.

Etymology

The name スルメイカ comes from するめ (dried squid) + イカ (squid), as this species is commonly used to make surume. The kanji 鯣烏賊 are ateji; 鯣 means 'dried squid' and 烏賊 is the kanji for 'squid'.