水子

Japanese

Kanji in this term
水	子
みず Grade: 1	こ Grade: 1
kun’yomi

Alternative spellings
稚子 若子

Alternative forms

• 稚子
• 若子

Etymology

Compound of 水(みず) (mizu, “water”) + 子(こ) (ko, “child”), originally having a meaning of "young child" (cf. 瑞(みず)瑞(みず)しい (mizumizushii, “fresh and young”)).

The sense as "an aborted or miscarried fetus" is derived from 水(すい)子(じ) (suiji), an alternative reading of this word, an 位(い)号(ごう) (igō, last part of the 戒(かい)名(みょう) (kaimyō, “posthumous Buddhist name”)) which is given to those who were stillborn fetuses or dead infants.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) みずこ [mìzúkó] (Heiban – [0])
• IPA^(key): [mʲizɨᵝko̞]

Noun

水(みず)子(こ) or 水子(みずご) • (mizuko or mizugo) ^{←みづこ (miduko)?}

1. an aborted or miscarried fetus
2. (archaic, now rare, etymology) a newborn baby
   • c. 1120–1140, Konjaku Monogatarishū

     其(そ)の家(いへ)に一人(ひとり)の若(みづ)子(こ)有(あり)て、庭(には)に腹(はら)這(ばひ)けるを、其(そ)の時(とき)に、鷲(わし)、空(そら)を飛(とび)て渡(わたり)ける間(ま)に、此(こ)の若(みづ)子(こ)の庭(には)に腹(はら)這(ばひ)を見(み)て、飛(とび)落(おち)て爴(つかみ)取(とり)て、空(そら)に昇(のぼり)て、遥(はるか)に東(ひがし)を指(さし)て飛(と)び去(い)にけり。

     Sono ie ni hitori no mizuko arite, niwa ni harabaikeru o, sono toki ni, washi, sora o tobite watarikeru ma ni, kono mizuko no niwa ni harabai o mite, tobi-ochite tsukami-torite, sora ni noborite, haruka ni higashi o sashite tobi-inikeri.

     There was a newborn baby in that house, crawling in the garden, and then an eagle flying over the sky looked the newborn baby crawling in the garden, flew down and grabbed it, rose into the sky and flew away in the direction of the far east.

Derived terms

• 水(みず)子(こ)地(じ)蔵(ぞう) (mizuko jizō)