団子

See also: 團子 and 🍡

Japanese

FWOTD – 23 December 2018

団子 (dango): Mitarashi dango

Kanji in this term
団	子
だん Grade: 5	こ > ご Grade: 1
jūbakoyomi

Alternative spelling
團子 (kyūjitai)

Etymology

This kind of dumpling confection appears in the historical record as 団喜 (danki) at least as early as the mid-1000s in the Heian period, possibly imported from China by envoys returning from visits to China during the Tang Dynasty. In the late-1200s, the term appears in the 厨事類記 (Chūjiruiki, Japan's oldest cookbook, completed around 1295) with the modern spelling 団子, but with a consistent Chinese-derived on'yomi reading of dansu. That reading then shifted to dango during the Muromachi period, adopting the native Japanese reading of ko for the second character, undergoing regular rendaku (連濁) to become go.

Noun

1. a dango (round sticky dumpling made from flour)
   • 2011 February 9, Hideaki Sorachi, “第(だい)三百三十四訓(くん)　銭(せん)湯(とう)では身(み)も心(こころ)も丸(まる)裸(はだか) [Lesson 334: Our Bodies and Souls Are All Naked in the Public Baths]”, in 銀(ぎん)魂(たま) (銀(ぎん)魂(たま)) [Silver Soul], volume 38 (fiction), Tokyo: Shueisha, →ISBN:

     もう限(げん)界(かい)だ‼チ○コも寒(さむ)さで縮(ちぢ)んでただの団(だん)子(ご)三(さん)兄(きょう)弟(だい)みたいになってんぞ‼

     Mō genkai da‼ Chi○ko mo samusa de chijinde tada no dango sankyōdai mitai ni natten zo‼

     I’ve reached my limit‼ My d*ck’s shrunk because of cold and now it’s like the three dango brothers down there‼

2. (by extension) something round as a ball
3. (colloquial) a bunch, lump
4. (colloquial) a bullet

   Synonyms: 銃弾 (jūdan), 弾丸 (dangan)

5. a 家紋 (kamon, “family crest”) with designs of dango on skewers
6. (board games, go, derogatory) an inefficient clump of stones

Derived terms

Derived terms

• 団子(だんご)烏賊(いか) (dangoika, “bobtail squid”)
• 団(ダン)子(ゴ)魚(ウオ) (dangōo)
• 団子(だんご)下(おろし), 団子降(だんごお)ろし (dangōroshi): a custom in the Kantō and Chūbu regions where dango set out as decoration for 小正月 (Koshōgatsu, “Little New Year”) on January 15 are taken down and eaten
• 団子(だんご)坂(ざか) (Dangozaka)
• 団子(だんご)挿(さし), 団子挿(だんごさ)し (dangosashi)
• 団子状(だんごじょう) (dangojō)
• 団子(だんご)提灯(ちょうちん) (dango chōchin, “small lantern in the shape of a dango”)
• 団子(だんご)花(ばな) (dangobana): dango decorations set out for 小正月 (Koshōgatsu, “Little New Year”) on January 15
• 団子(だんご)鼻(ばな) (dangobana, “squat and broad nose”)
• 団子火矢(だんごびや) (dangobiya, “gun”, archaic)
• 団子(だんご)虫(むし) (dangomushi, “woodlouse that can curl up into a ball”)
• 団子(だんご)飯(めし) (dangomeshi, “funerary offering of dango”)
• 団子屋(だんごや) (dangoya, “dango shop, dango maker”)
• 団子(だんご)レース (dango rēsu)
• 編(あ)み笠(がさ)団子(だんご) (amigasa dango)
• 菖蒲(あやめ)団子(だんご) (ayame dango)
• 粟(あわ)団子(だんご) (awadango)
• 糸切(いときり)団子(だんご), 糸(いと)切(き)り団子(だんご) (itokiridango)
• 田舎(いなか)団子(だんご) (inaka dango)
• 浮(うき)世(よ)団子(だんご) (ukiyo dango)
• 送(おく)り団子(だんご) (okuridango)
• 花粉(かふん)団子(だんご) (kafun dango)
• かんかち団子(だんご) (kankachi dango)
• 黍(きび)団子(だんご), 吉備団子(きびだんご) (kibidango)
• 草(くさ)団子(だんご) (kusadango)
• 串(くし)団子(だんご) (kushidango)
• 葛(くず)団子(だんご) (kuzudango)
• 言問(こととい)団子(だんご) (kototoi dango)
• 細胞(さいぼう)団子(だんご) (saibō dango)
• 笹(ささ)団子(だんご) (sasadango)
• 杉(すぎ)団子(だんご) (sugidango)
• 月(つき)見(み)団子(だんご) (tsukimi dango)
• 土(つち)団子(だんご) (tsuchidango)
• 十(とお)団子(だんご) (tōdango)
• 鳥(とり)毛(げ)団子(だんご) (torige dango)
• 肉(にく)団子(だんご) (nikudango)
• 二十日(はつか)団子(だんご) (hatsuka dango)
• 早(はや)団子(だんご) (hayadango)
• 彼岸(ひがん)団子(だんご) (higan dango)
• 硼酸(ほうさん)団子(だんご) (hōsan dango)
• 枕(まくら)団子(だんご) (makuradango)
• 繭(まゆ)団子(だんご) (mayudango)
• 御(み)手洗(たらし)団子(だんご) (Mitarashi dango)
• 土産(みやげ)団子(だんご) (miyagedango)
• 迎(むか)え団子(だんご) (mukaedango)
• 蜀黍(もろこし)団子(だんご) (morokoshi dango)
• 焼(やき)団子(だんご), 焼(や)き団子(だんご) (yakidango)

Idioms

• 団子(だんご)にする (dango ni suru)
• 団子(だんご)に目(め)鼻(はな) (dango ni mehana, “a dango with eyes and nose → a round face”)
• 花(はな)より団子(だんご) (hana yori dango, “dango instead of flowers → indicating a preference for the practical over the purely aesthetic”)

See also

• 🍡