花魁

Chinese

		flower; blossom; to spend flower; blossom; to spend; fancy pattern	chief; head
trad. (花魁)		花	魁
simp. #(花魁)		花	魁

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): huākuí

  (Zhuyin): ㄏㄨㄚ ㄎㄨㄟˊ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): faa¹ fui¹

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: huākuí
    • Zhuyin: ㄏㄨㄚ ㄎㄨㄟˊ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: huakuéi
    • Wade–Giles: hua¹-kʻuei²
    • Yale: hwā-kwéi
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: huakwei
    • Palladius: хуакуй (xuakuj)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /xu̯ä⁵⁵ kʰu̯eɪ̯³⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: faa¹ fui¹
    • Yale: fā fūi
    • Cantonese Pinyin: faa¹ fui¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: fa¹ fui¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /faː⁵⁵ fuːi̯⁵⁵/

Noun

花魁

1. queen of flowers, referring especially to plum blossom
2. (literary, historical) the most famous courtesan in a brothel; famous prostitute

Derived terms

• 占花魁
• 獨占花魁
• 花魁娘子

 

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (花魁):

• → Japanese: 花(おい)魁(らん) (oiran)
• → Vietnamese: hoa khôi (花魁)

Japanese

Kanji in this term
花	魁
おいらん
Grade: 1	Jinmeiyō
jukujikun

Etymology

/oira no/ → /oiran/

A contraction of 己等 (oira, first-person pronoun) + の (no, possessive particle). Young assistants used to call their elder courtesans 己等の (oira no), an ellipse for 己等の姉さん (oira no nēsan, literally "my elder sister").

The kanji spelling is jukujikun (熟字訓), borrowed from Chinese 花魁 (huākuí).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) おいらん [òíráń] (Heiban – [0])
• IPA^(key): [o̞iɾã̠ɴ]

Noun

花魁(おいらん) • (oiran) 

1. (archaic, slang) an oiran (elder courtesan in Edo-period Yoshiwara)
2. any high-ranking courtesan

   Synonym: 太夫 (tayū)

3. a prostitute

Derived terms

• 花魁(オイラン)草(ソウ) (oiransō)
• 花魁(おいらん)道中(どうちゅう) (Oiran Dōchū)
• 花魁(オイラン)鳥(ドリ) (oirandori)

Descendants

• → English: oiran

See also

• Thesaurus:娼婦