馬鈴薯

Etymology
The earliest known attestation in Chinese is found in the Kangxi edition of the Gazetteer of Songxi County (《松溪縣志》), published in 1700, but based on its description, it is improbable that it referred to the potato but, instead, referred to the air potato. The name probably originally made reference to the way air potatoes look like bells used in the tack for horses.

Alternatively, considering this word is mainly distributed in the South, and that other forms in the area, such as and, usually include a modifier meaning “foreign”,  suggests that  may be a variant of.

Noun

 * 1) potato

Etymology
Origin unclear. Attributed to noted Edo-period botanist and scholar of Chinese medicine Ono Ranzan (see ) in the late 1700s. May be from, or may be a Japanese coinage later borrowed into Chinese.

According to one theory, this word is a compound of, from the way the potato looks a bit like the bells used in the tack for stage horses. In another theory, is an example of ateji for, since potatoes were introduced to Japan via the Dutch East Indies.

Noun

 * 1) potato

Synonyms

 * じゃがいも, ジャガイモ, ジャガ芋, ジャガ薯 (jagaimo)

Derived terms

 * : potato flour; potato starch
 * : potato starch