松

Taken apart

No breakdown is shown for this word: Wiktionary's text for it doesn't give a split that spells the word and joins to its reading, and any other split would be a guess.

Written with 松

In a sentence

We don't have the data for this section. The pinned Tatoeba export has no sentence with a translation that uses this word and passes our filter.

What Wiktionary says

Quoted line by line from Wiktionary's Etymology section for this reading, taken from one dated dump so it can't change underneath us. Nothing below is paraphrased.

• “From Old Japanese. Attested in the Kojiki of 712 and the Man'yōshū of 759. In turn, from Proto-Japonic *matu.”
• Hedged“Various theories exist regarding its ultimate origin:”
• Hedged“* Might be a shift from 保つ (tamotsu, “to hold”). However, the accent of 保つ (tamotsu) in the Heian period is HHL, while 松 (matsu) is LH. It can be better derived from 持つ (motsu, “to hold, to carry”), which has LF accent in the Heian period.”
• Hedged“* Might be from 待つ (matsu, “to wait”), either from the way that a pine tree must wait for leaves to fall to grow new ones, or from the way that it lasts ten thousand years and preserves its color. The accent of 待つ (matsu) is LF.”
• Hedged“* Possibly derived from 全く (mataku, “entirely”), from 全い (matai, “complete”), because it spends its time in the snow for winter. However, the classical term 全し (matasi) is HHF in the Heian period.”
• “* From 睫毛 (matsuge, “eyelashes”), since their leaves represent such. However, it requires deletion of the -ge, and matsuge is certainly from 目 (ma-, “eye”).”
• “* From 真常木 (matonoki, “true eternal tree”), as the pine tree is an evergreen tree.”
• “* From a place name 松のむらたち (MATSU no muratachi), as opposed to muratatsu.”
• “* From 芽厚 (meatsu, literally “buds (are) thick”).”
• “* From 纏わる (matsuwaru, “get wrapped around”), as the leaves are around the trunk.”
• “* From 真 (ma-, “true”) + つ (tsu, abbreviation of 約まる (tsuzumaru, “to shrink”)).”
• “* From 間千 (machi, literally “space (of) thousands”).”
• “* A shift from 股 (mata, “crouch”), as the pine tree leaves split into two.”

Source: Wiktionary: 松 (dump of 2026-09-02), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Reading, meaning and part of speech from JMdict, and kanji readings from KANJIDIC2 (EDRDG).

What the labels mean

和語 Native Japanese

Words that were already Japanese before Chinese vocabulary arrived — usually written with kun'yomi and often short.

Clipping

A longer word or phrase shortened in everyday use.

Sound change

The pronunciation shifted over the centuries.