Where does “水鶏” come from?

水鶏 (Japanese) comes from Japanese 食い, from Japanese 鯎, from Japanese 鵜 — a cormorant.

水鶏 (Japanese): the water rail, "Rallus aquaticus"

Definitions

  1. the water rail, "Rallus aquaticus"

Ancestry of “水鶏”, step by step

水鶏 traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via Japanese 食い

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese食いeating, grubbing up; bite
2Japanese鯎the Japanese dace, also known as the big-scaled...
3Japanese鵜a cormorant

via Japanese 鳴く

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese鳴くto call, to make noise; e.g., a bird's singing

Words derived from “水鶏”

Every word from Japanese 鵜 →Every word from Japanese 食い →Every word from Japanese 鯎 →