三味線

Etymology
.

Noun

 * 1) shamisen

Etymology 1


The instrument derives from the 🇨🇬. Originally called in Japanese, so named for the way the Okinawan instrument's soundbox is traditionally covered in snakeskin. The traditional jabisen instrument was imported into the Sakai area of Osaka during the Eiroku era (1558–1570), then later modified by biwa luthiers to have the square-shaped shamisen soundbox of today.

The reading jabisen shifted over time to, replacing the character with  for phonetic reasons, i.e. as. Then jamisen changed to shamisen, replacing the character with  for semantic reasons. The sha reading for the character is irregular.

The shamisen reading is first cited to a text from 1580.

Noun

 * 1)  a Japanese stringed instrument played by plucking, vaguely similar to a banjo
 * : the shepherd's purse,
 * 1)  from : words or actions intended to deceive one's opponent in a game or competition
 * 2)   a grade of
 * 1)  from : words or actions intended to deceive one's opponent in a game or competition
 * 2)   a grade of

Etymology 2
Sound shift from shamisen above, possibly influenced by the standard san reading of the initial character.

This reading appears to be less common than shamisen.

First cited to a text from 1632.

Noun

 * 1)   a Japanese stringed instrument played by plucking, vaguely similar to a banjo