竜胆

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: 竜胆 is a noun for the gentian plant and has the conventional reading りんどう, which is not transparent from its characters.
• Basic usage: It identifies a blue-purple gentian beside a mountain path or a gentian observed for a painting of autumn flowers.
  • 山道の脇に青紫の竜胆が咲いていました。 describes blue-purple gentians blooming beside a mountain path; 秋の花を描くため、庭の竜胆をよく観察しました。 describes closely observing garden gentians in order to paint autumn flowers.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• Reading りんどう
  • The reading is difficult to predict from the characters' common readings, so learn 竜胆 as the complete form りんどう.
• 竜胆が咲く and 竜胆を観察する
  • が marks the plant as what blooms, while を marks it as the object a person observes.
• 竜胆 and 花
  • 花(はな) broadly denotes a flower, while 竜胆 is the name of the specific gentian plant.