顔映し

Japanese

Kanji in this term
顔	映
かお > かわ Grade: 2	はゆ Grade: 6
kun’yomi

Alternative spelling
顏映し (kyūjitai)

Etymology

Appears in sources from the late Heian period.

Compound of 顔 (kawo, “face”, classical reading; kao in modern Japanese) +‎ 映し (hayushi, “florid, flushed”, classical Japanese; hayui in modern Japanese, only used in compounds).

/kawo hajuɕi/ → /kawa hajuɕi/

Note that 顔 (kao) in modern Japanese was historically pronounced /kapo/, shifting to /kafo/ and then to /kawo/ by the 11th century. When combined with 映ゆし (hayushi), the /kawo/ shifted to become /kawa/ + /hajuɕi/. This appears to be the only word where the final -o in kawo shifted to -a; this may have been influenced by the initial -a- in hayushi.

Adjective

顔(かわ)映(はゆ)し • (kawahayushi) ^{←かははゆし (kafafayusi)? †}-ku

1. (archaic) red-faced
2. (archaic) embarrassed, guilty of conscience
   • c. 1120: Konjaku Monogatarishū 19.9

     然レドモ極テカハゝユク思エテ、此ノ事ヲ人ニ不云ズシテ耄ケ行ク程ニ

Derived terms

• 可愛(かわゆ)い (kawayui)
• 可愛(かわい)い (kawaii)

References

• Yamada, Yoshio; Tadao Yamada, Hideo Yamada, Toshio Yamada (1962-03-05) Konjaku Monogatarishū (Volume 4) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Iwanami Shoten, →ISBN