丸太

Japanese

Kanji in this term
丸	太
まる Grade: 2	た Grade: 2
yutōyomi

Etymology

Compound of 丸 (maru, “circle; round”) +‎ 太 (ta, “fat”, here possibly emphasizing the roundness).

Noun

丸(まる)太(た) • (maruta)  (alternative reading hiragana まろた, rōmaji marota) (less common)

1. a log: unsawn lumber (UK) or timber (US), a section of a tree cut to a length and with the bark removed, but otherwise round and unfinished
2. alternate name for the 似鯉 (にごい, ​nigoi) fish (); more commonly known as ニゴイ (​nigoi)
3. alternate name for the 鯎 or 石斑魚 (うぐい, ​ugui) fish, Japanese dace (Tribolodon hakonensis); more commonly known as ウグイ (​ugui)
4. (archaic, slang): during the Edo period, derogatory term for an unlicensed prostitute dressed as a Buddhist nun as a form of disguise from the authorities (from the way the shaven head looks a bit like a debarked log, and from the way that they both roll around)

Derived terms

Derived terms

• 丸太小屋 (まるたごや, ​marutagoya): a log cabin
• 丸太ん棒 (まるたんぼう, ​marutanbō): a log (more casual)
• 丸太魚 (まるたうお, ​maruta uo): a maruta fish: a ニゴイ (​nigoi)
• 丸太式舞台 (まるたしきぶたい, ​maruta-shiki butai): a log-style (theater) stage, made of hewn logs
• 丸太舟 (まるたぶね, ​marutabune): a kind of boat made of logs and used mainly on Lake Biwa starting from the medieval period
• 丸太洗い, 丸太洗 (まるたあらい, ​maruta arai): logs used to shore up the bottom of a reservoir pond or sewer outlet

Idioms

• 丸太に糠釘 (まるたにぬかくぎ, ​maruta ni nukakugi): “a tack into a log” → a metaphor for one's intentions or feelings not getting through to another person, much as a tack will not go through a log

Synonyms

• (log): 丸木 (まるき, ​maruki)
• (log): 丸太ん棒 (まるたんぼう, ​marutanbō)
• (Hemibarbus barbus): ニゴイ (​nigoi)
• (Japanese dace): ウグイ (​ugui)

Further reading

• Lumber on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• 木材 (Lumber) on the Japanese Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^ja
• ニゴイ on the Japanese Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^ja ()
• ウグイ on the Japanese Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^ja (Tribolodon hakonensis)
• Edo period on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Ukiyo on Wikipedia.Wikipedia