From Chinese 蓬 + 萊, of uncertain etymology. The characters can refer directly (together) to 蓬蒿草莱 or (separately) to various Chinese weeds and herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine and Taoist alchemy; 蓬 can serve as a measure word (a "clump") for herbs; or they may be an Old Chinese transcription (reconstructed *bong or *brong rˤək) of an earlier Austro-Asiatic name: cf. 萊國 (Lai), an ancient Dongyi tribe, where 萊 has been argued to transcribe a native word for "mountain" or "wilderness".
蓬萊 (traditional, Pinyin 蓬莱), simplified
- Penglai, a mythical eastern isle of the blessed in Chinese mythology
- Penglai, a city in Shandong, China, formerly known as Dengzhou or Tengchow and recently renamed after the legendary island
- Mythical island
- "蓬萊" (in Mandarin), Han Dian (漢典). URL accessed on 20 November 2013.