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When a Japanese friend emailed me a recipe, one ingredient jumped out at me: 玉ねぎ (tamanegi: onion). I hadn’t realized that “onion” contains 玉 (GYOKU, tama), the character for “jewel.” I momentarily enjoyed thinking of onions as the gems of the vegetable world!
As I soon found, though, 玉– is also a prefix meaning “spherical” or “round.” That’s the sense 玉– conveys in 玉ねぎ.
On 玉– as a Prefix
Meaning “Spherical” …
Oh, well. Seeing the 玉 of 玉ねぎ as “round” is a little more mundane than imagining a white onion as the pearl of the produce store, a yellow onion as a topaz, or a red onion as a ruby!
The “onion” compound isn’t the only food word containing 玉. These do, too:
玉菜 (tamana: cabbage) round + vegetable
You can’t get more straightforward than that breakdown!
玉藻 (tamamo: seaweed) exquisite + seaweed
As a prefix, 玉– can mean “beautiful” or “exquisite.” One dictionary says that 玉藻 and 藻 (SŌ, mo) have identical meanings but that 玉藻 is the more elegant way to say “seaweed.” So I’m guessing that 玉 means “exquisite” here, though I have no idea. (I’m also struggling to imagine seaweed as beautiful, exquisite, or elegant!)
飴玉 (amedama: candy) candy + ball
And, as it turns out, there are two ways to write tamago, “egg,” one of which features 玉:
1. 玉子 (tamago) spherical + thing
This compound refers to an egg that humans would consider eating (especially a hen egg).
2. 卵 (tamago)
This version of tamago refers to any type of egg, whether edible (from the human, non-vegan point of view) or inedible. The kanji 卵 also means “an expert in the making.” I love that second definition, which implies that one can see full potential for mastery and achievement in a mere egg!
Jewel-Studded Compounds
Most 玉 compounds employ the kun-yomi tama. In the rarer instances when the on-yomi GYOKU appears, 玉 means “jewel” or “precious stone,” as in this case:
宝玉 (hōgyoku: jewel, gem, precious stone) treasure + jewel
What a beautiful repetition of shapes! The first character, 宝, appears to be a jewel (玉）under a roof (宀). This kanji means “treasure”; perhaps a treasure chest supplies the roof in this case.
Shortly after stumbling upon 宝玉, I found this compound:
国宝 (kokuhō: national treasure) nation + treasure
Again, a delightful repetition of forms! How many more look-alike compounds could there be with 玉? Maybe there’s such a word as 国玉, meaning “national jewels”!
No, unfortunately, it doesn’t exist.
Well, how about if we combine these look-alike kanji with another one, 掴 (KAKU, tsuka(mu): to capture)? Maybe there’s a compound 掴国 for “capturing another country” or even better, 掴国宝玉, “capturing the jewels of another country.”
No such luck in either case.
Kingly jewels in 王玉?
No.
Jewels from all over the country? 全国玉?
Not a chance. Hmph.
I consoled myself by creating this phrase:
王が全国の玉と宝を掴みました。
Ō ga zenkoku no tama to takara o tsukamimashita.
The king grasped at jewels and treasures from all over the country.
And now I offer you a panoply of quizzes (which you can think of as games or puzzles if you tend to get test anxiety!).
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Verbal Logic Quiz 1: Match the words in the numbered list with the lettered possibilities. Then click on the Answers link below to see how you did! 1. 弾き玉 (hajikidama) bullet + jewel
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For Answers to
Verbal Logic Quiz 1 …
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Verbal Logic Quiz 2: Here’s a straightforward compound:
Can you guess the meanings of the following compounds, which embellish on the word for “eyeball”? After you take a shot at it, click on the Answers link below to see how you did! 1. 大目玉 (ōmedama) big + eye + ball
2. 目玉商品 (medama shōhin) eye + ball + merchandise (last 2 chars.)
3. 目玉焼き (medamayaki) eye + ball + to bake
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For Answers to
Verbal Logic Quiz 2 …
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Verbal Logic Quiz 3: Which of the following compounds are real words? Mark them T (true) or F (false). Then click on the Answers link below to see how you did! |
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| T or F? | ||||
| 1. 火玉 (hidama: ball of fire) | fire + ball | _______ | ||
| 2. 雪玉 (yukidama: snowball) | snow + ball | _______ | ||
| 3. 水玉 (mizutama: drops of water, dew) | water + ball | _______ | ||
| 4. 玉虫 (tamamushi: iridescent winged insect) | jewel + insect | _______ | ||
| 5. 鎖玉 (kusaridama: ball and chain) | chain + ball | _______ | ||
| 6. 悪玉 (akudama: bad guy) | bad + jewel | _______ | ||
| 7. 善玉 (zendama: good guy) | good + jewel | _______ | ||
| 8. 玉の汗 (tama (no) ase: beads of sweat) | ball + sweat | _______ | ||
| 9. 年玉 (toshidama: New Year’s gift) | year + jewel | _______ | ||
| 10. 替え玉 (kaedama: dead ringer) | substitute + jewel | _______ | ||
| 11. 肉玉 (nikudama: meatball) | meat + ball | _______ | ||
| 12. 親玉 (oyadama: boss) | parent + jewel | _______ | ||
