From Japanese '盆栽' (bonsai), a compound of '盆' (bon, a basin, tray, or shallow pot) + '栽' (sai, planting, cultivation, a plant or tree). The Japanese word is itself a direct borrowing of Chinese '盆栽' (pénzāi), pronounced with Sino-Japanese reading. The character '盆' depicts a vessel or container and is used for pots, basins, and festival celebrations (as in Obon). The character '栽' means
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Bonsai literally means 'tray planting.' The oldest known bonsai tree is a five-needle pine at the Sandai-Shogun-No-Matsu collection in Tokyo, believed to be over 500 years old. Contrary to popular belief, bonsai trees are not genetically dwarfed — they are normal trees kept small through constant pruning, wiring, and root trimming. Any tree species
pénzāi 盆栽(Mandarin Chinese (tray planting, source word))penjing 盆景(Chinese (tray landscape, older art form))盆(Japanese/Chinese (bon/pén, basin, tray))栽(Japanese/Chinese (sai/zāi, to plant))bonsaï(French (borrowed from Japanese))Bonsai(German (same Japanese source))