親不知

Japanese

Kanji in this term
親	不	知
おや Grade: 2	しらず
	Grade: 4	Grade: 2
kun’yomi	jukujikun

For pronunciation and definitions of 親不知 – see the following entry.

【親知おやしらず】 [noun] [from at least 1595] Short for 親不知歯 (oyashirazu-ba, literally “parents not-knowing tooth”). a wisdom tooth (from the likelihood that the wisdom teeth do not erupt until after no longer in daily contact with one's parents, due to moving or death) [noun] [date uncertain, likely late 1100s] ignorance of one's parentage; such a person who does not know their parents [noun] [from 1711] (historical) a specific kind of formal adoption during the Edo period, wherein the adoptee would have no knowledge of their birth parents; such an adoptee [noun] [date uncertain, some time after 1100s] (regional, possibly archaic) a section of coast with dangerous surf (by analogy from having to pay all attention to surviving the conditions, and not having a moment to spare to think of one's parents) [proper noun] [roughly late 1100s] A cliff-lined coast in Itoigawa, Niigata Prefecture, Japan [proper noun] [date uncertain, some time after late 1100s] A cliff-lined coast in Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan

(This term, 親不知, is an alternative spelling of the above term.)