お腹
Japanese
Kanji in this term |
---|
腹 |
なか Grade: 6 |
Irregular |
Etymology 1
Compound of 御 (o-, honorific prefix) + 中 (naka, “insides; innards, stomach”). Originally coined as a deliberately indirect 女房詞 (nyōbō kotoba, “woman's word”) for 腹 (hara, “belly, gut”).[1][2]
The use of the 腹 character to spell 中 (naka) appears to be a relatively recent shift; many dictionaries still list 御中 or お中 as the standard spelling for this term,[1][2][3][4] but usage trends clearly show that this お腹 spelling is now more common for the belly senses.
Alternative forms
- 御腹, 御中
Pronunciation
- (Tokyo) おなか [ònáká] (Heiban – [0])[4][5]
- IPA(key): [o̞na̠ka̠]
Noun
お腹 (hiragana おなか, rōmaji onaka)
- belly, tummy, stomach, abdomen
Derived terms
Derived terms
- お腹が空く (o-naka ga suku): “one's belly becomes empty” → to become hungry
- お腹を壊す (o-naka o kowasu): “to break one's belly” → to become sick to one's stomach, to become ill in one's gut, such as diarrhea
- お腹を痛める (o-naka o itameru): “to hurt one's belly” → to give birth
Etymology 2
Kanji in this term |
---|
腹 |
はら Grade: 6 |
kun’yomi |
Compound of 御 (o-, honorific prefix) + 腹 (hara, “stomach, belly”).[1]
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [o̞ha̠ɾa̠]
Noun
お腹 (hiragana おはら, rōmaji ohara)
- (archaic, possibly obsolete, honorific) a person used as a form of mildly honorific indirect reference to someone
- (uncommon) one's mother, specifically one's birth mother
- (uncommon, honorific) someone's belly
References
- 1988, 国語大辞典(新装版) (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
- 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
- 1995, 大辞泉 (Daijisen) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
- 1997, 新明解国語辞典 (Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten), Fifth Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
- 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, →ISBN
- Jim Breen's WWWJDIC Server