Where does “大王烏賊” come from?

大王烏賊 (Japanese) comes from Japanese 大王, from Japanese 王, from Middle Chinese 王.

大王烏賊 (Japanese): a giant squid

Definitions

  1. a giant squid

Ancestry of “大王烏賊”, step by step

大王烏賊 traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via Japanese 大王

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese大王a "great king"; a "great prince"
2Japanese王a king; an East Asian queen regnant; an East...
3Middle Chinese王—

via Japanese 烏賊

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese烏賊a squid, a cuttlefish
2Chinese烏賊cuttlefish
Every word from Middle Chinese 王 →Every word from Japanese 王 →Every word from Japanese 大王 →