Where does “けん玉” come from?

けん玉 (Japanese) comes from Japanese 剣, from Middle Chinese けん, from Middle Chinese 元.

けん玉 (Japanese): a Japanese bilboquet (cup-and-ball game)

Definitions

  1. a Japanese bilboquet (cup-and-ball game)

Ancestry of “けん玉”, step by step

けん玉 traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via Japanese 剣

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese剣a sword, "especially" one with a double-edged...
2Middle Chineseけん—
3Middle Chinese元—

via Japanese 玉

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese玉"any spherical or similarly-rounded object"; a...
2Middle Chinese玉—
Every word from Middle Chinese 元 →Every word from Middle Chinese けん →Every word from Japanese 剣 →