閑古鳥
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Japanese[edit]
| Kanji in this term | ||
|---|---|---|
| 閑 | 古 | 鳥 |
| かん Grade: S |
こ Grade: 2 |
とり > どり Grade: 2 |
| kan’on | kun’yomi | |
| Alternative spelling |
|---|
| 閑子鳥 (less common) |
Etymology[edit]
First attested in the Nippo Jisho of 1603.[1]
Further etymology
Analyzable as a compound of 閑古 (kanko, “lonesome and old”, otherwise unattested) + 鳥 (tori, “bird”). The tori changes to dori as an instance of rendaku (連濁).
The kanko initial portion is apparently a shift in pronunciation from 郭公 (kakkō, “cuckoo”, onomatopoeia for the bird's call), and is likely an example of both meaning-based jukujikun (熟字訓) and sound-based ateji (当て字) for poetic purposes, from the lonesome sound of the cuckoo's call, as alluded to in poetry by Bashō.
- 憂きわれをさびしがらせよ閑古鳥
- uki ware o sabishigaraseyo kanko-dori
- you're making me blue, cuckoo
- From Matsuo Bashō's 嵯峨日記 (Saga Nikki, “Saga Diary”), 1691
While kanko-dori could be viewed as a shift from 郭公鳥 (kakkō-dori), this latter term is not attested until 1686.[1]
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
- [from 1603] a cuckoo
- [from 1718] (figurative) loneliness, dreariness, desolateness
Idioms[edit]
- 閑古鳥が歌う (kankodori ga utau, “loneliness and general lack of activity”)
- 閑古鳥が鳴く (kankodori ga naku, “loneliness and general lack of activity”)
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
- ^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
- ^ NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK Publishing, →ISBN
- ^ Kindaichi, Kyōsuke et al., editors (1997), 新明解国語辞典 [Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten] (in Japanese), Fifth edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
Categories:
- Japanese terms spelled with 閑 read as かん
- Japanese terms spelled with 古 read as こ
- Japanese terms spelled with 鳥 read as とり
- Japanese terms with rendaku
- Japanese compound terms
- Japanese terms spelled with jukujikun
- Japanese terms spelled with ateji
- Japanese terms with usage examples
- Japanese terms with IPA pronunciation
- Japanese lemmas
- Japanese nouns
- Japanese terms spelled with secondary school kanji
- Japanese terms spelled with second grade kanji
- Japanese terms written with three Han script characters