Earthworm (earthworm) - Earthworm (English spelling)

Japanese: ミミズ(蚯蚓) - ミミズ（英語表記）earthworm

A general term for annelids in the class Oligochaeta. The name is said to be derived from Memiezu, as they have no eyes. The character ten means earthworm, but later came to be used colloquially to mean silkworm. They live in fields, pastures, swamps, lakes, groundwater, and a few species also live on the coast, and are distributed widely around the world. It is thought that a type of marine worm entered freshwater, and then some of them moved to a land-based lifestyle and became large oligochaetes, and the freshwater species are generally small and primitive in form.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

貧毛綱Oligochaeta(貧毛類)に含まれる環形動物の総称。眼がないのでメミエズから転じた名といわれる。蚕（てん）はミミズの意の別字であるが，のちカイコの意に俗用された。畑，牧草地，沼や湖，地下水や少数の種類は海岸にもすみ，地球上に広く分布する。海産のゴカイ類の一種が淡水に入り，その後一部のものが陸上生活に移って大型な貧毛類になったと考えられ，淡水産の種類は一般に小型で原始的な形態をもっている。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

<<: Owl (English name) Ledra auditura

>>: Battle of Mimikawa