Where does “三線” come from?

三線 (Japanese) comes from Japanese 三, from Middle Chinese さん.

三線 (Japanese): a fretless plucked lute with three strings and a...

Definitions

  1. a fretless plucked lute with three strings and a...

Ancestry of “三線”, step by step

三線 traces back through 3 separate lines of ancestry.

via Japanese 三

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese三three, 3; third; three
2Middle Chineseさん—

via Okinawan 三線

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Okinawan三線a fretless plucked lute with three strings and...
2Mandarin三弦sanxian

via Japanese 線

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese線line; level; beam

Words derived from “三線”

Every word from Middle Chinese さん →Every word from Japanese 三 →