Where does “船食虫” come from?

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

船食虫 (Japanese): a shipworm

Definitions

  1. a shipworm

Ancestry of “船食虫”, step by step

船食虫 traces back through 3 separate lines of ancestry.

via Japanese 食い

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

via Japanese

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japaneseship, vessel, larger ship
2Old Japaneseふね
3Proto-Japonicpunayboat

via Japanese

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanesea bug, insect, worm; a serpent, snake; a worm
Every word from Japanese Every word from Japanese 食いEvery word from Japanese