不老不死

Japanese

Kanji in this term
不	老	不	死
ふ Grade: 4	ろう Grade: 4	ふ Grade: 4	し Grade: 3
goon	on’yomi	goon	on’yomi

Etymology

Analyzable as 不老(ふろう) (furō, “ageless, not aging, forever young”) + 不死(ふし) (fushi, “immortal, never dying”).

Likely originally from written Chinese 不老不死. Compare modern Mandarin 不老不死 (bùlǎobùsǐ). First cited in Japanese to the Utsubo Monogatari of the late 900s.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) ふろーふ​し [fùróó fúꜜshì] (Nakadaka – [4])
• IPA^(key): [ɸɯ̟ᵝɾo̞ː ɸɯ̟ᵝɕi]

Noun

不(ふ)老(ろう)不(ふ)死(し) • (furō fushi) ^{←ふらうふし (furaufusi)?}

1. [from 1179] eternal youth, perpetual youth and immortality

Derived terms

• 不老不死(ふろうふし)の霊薬(れいやく) (furō fushi no reiyaku, “elixir of life”)

See also

• 不老長寿(ふろうちょうじゅ) (furō chōju, “ageless and long-lived”)

References

• “不老不死”, in 日本国語大辞典 [Nihon Kokugo Daijiten]‎^[1] (in Japanese), concise edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, 2000

  “不老不死”, in デジタル大辞泉 [Digital Daijisen]‎^[2] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, updated roughly every four months

  Kitahara, Yasuo, editor (2002), 明鏡国語辞典 [Meikyō Kokugo Jiten] (in Japanese), First edition, Tokyo: Taishūkan Shoten, →ISBN

Korean

Hanja in this term
不	老	不	死

Noun

不老不死 • (bullobulsa) (hangeul 불로불사)

1. Hanja form^? of 불로불사 (“perpetual youth and longevity”).