Chinese

Noun

鴛鴦

1. mandarin duck
2. (figuratively) affectionate couple; happily married couple
3. (figuratively) objects which occur in inseparable pairs
4. yuanyang (a beverage made from mixing coffee with Hong Kong-style milk tea)

• 

  鴛鴦 (mandarin ducks)

• 

  鴛鴦 (beverage)

Derived terms

Descendants

Japanese

鴛鴦 (oshi, oshidori, en'ō): a pair of mandarin ducks.

Etymology 1

From 愛し ‎(oshi, “dear, loving”), from the way the ducks are believed to mate for life and seldom stray far from one another.

The spelling is from Chinese, with 鴛 representing the male bird and 鴦 representing the female bird.

Pronunciation

• (Irregular reading)
• (Tokyo) お​し [óꜜshì] (Atamadaka - [1])^[1]
• IPA^(key): [o̞ɕi]

Noun

鴛鴦 ‎(hiragana おし, romaji oshi, historical hiragana をし)

1. a mandarin duck, Aix galericulata
2. a kind of 家紋 ‎(kamon, “family crest”) featuring a mandarin duck

Etymology 2

Originally a compound of 愛し ‎(oshi, “lovely”) +‎ 鳥 ‎(tori, “bird”), from the way the ducks are believed to mate for life and seldom stray far from one another. The tori changes to dori as an instance of rendaku (連濁).

The spelling is from Chinese, with 鴛 representing the male bird and 鴦 representing the female bird.

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• (Tokyo) おし​どり [òshíꜜdòrì] (Nakadaka - [2])^[1][2][3]
• IPA^(key): [o̞ɕido̞ɾi]

Noun

鴛鴦 ‎(hiragana おしどり, katakana オシドリ, romaji oshidori, historical hiragana をしどり)

1. a mandarin duck, Aix galericulata
2. (figuratively) a pair of lovebirds: a loving couple
3. a topknot or bun hairstyle wherein the hair is bunched on each side in a shape vaguely resembling two mandarin ducks

Derived terms

• 鴛鴦夫婦 (おしどりふうふ) ‎(oshidori fūfu): a loving couple

Usage notes

As with many terms that name organisms, this term is often spelled in katakana in biological contexts, as オシドリ.

Etymology 3

/weɴau/ → /weɴɔː/ → /eɴoː/

From Chinese 鴛鴦.

Pronunciation

• On'yomi: Kan'on
• (Tokyo) えんおう [èń'óó] (Heiban - [0])^[1][3]
• IPA^(key): [ẽ̞ɴ.o̞ː]

Noun

鴛鴦 ‎(hiragana えんおう, romaji en'ō, historical hiragana ゑんあう)

1. a mandarin duck, Aix galericulata
2. (figuratively) a pair of lovebirds: a loving couple

Usage notes

The en'ō reading appears to be less common than oshidori above.

References

1. 1 2 3 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13905-9
2. ↑ 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, ISBN 978-4-14-011112-3
3. 1 2 1997, 新明解国語辞典 (Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten), Fifth Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13143-0