why is ginkgo spelt like that?

Question

its not at all intuitive and i have never seen a similar word. where does it come from?

Answer 1

Just a romanization (westernization) of a non-western word. The spelling indicates how the Chinese originating word is pronounced.

Answer 2

I want to make clear of one thing: It is not Chinese!
G-i-n-g-k-o is the Anglicized spelling of the Japanese word "Gin-ko"
G-i-n-k-g-o is a misspelling of G-i-n-g-k-o/Gin-ko.

Gingko biloba is Latin, not Chinese. It's not even Japanese!

JJ, How could you get to be a top contributor when you mistake facts from hearsay?

Answer 3

Ginkgo biloba is the Chinese name, from which we get the name. Often misspelled 'gingko'.