烏賊

Etymology
Attested earliest in the  as □鰂 (missing 1st component being presumably 烏):

An early apperance of 烏鰂 is in the  (translation based on Yang, 2019):

Noun

 * 1) cuttlefish

Etymology
From, from. First cited to the of 715.

Ultimate derivation uncertain. Derivations from within Japanese include:


 * Related to
 * Related to

Outside of Japanese, compare also, , in turn ultimately from.

The kanji is an. According to the of 938, the spelling was chosen for the way that certain squid would feign death and float motionless on the surface near shore, and when a crow would come to pick up the "dead" squid, the squid would instead grab the crow and drag it underwater.

Noun

 * 1)  a squid, a cuttlefish