まんびき

Japanese

Alternative spellings
万引き万引

Etymology

/mabiki/ → /maɴbiki/

Shift from 間引き (mabiki, “thinning out”), from verb 間引く (mabiku, “to thin out seedlings; to pull out items from the middle”).[1][2] The original term first referred to the process of culling seedlings. Over time, this was used more euphemistically to refer to a shoplifter "thinning out" a store's merchandise.

First attested as manbiki in a text from 1831.[3]

The use of 万 to spell the man portion is an example of ateji (当て字).

Pronunciation

(Tokyo) まんびき [màńbíkí] (Heiban – [0])[1]
IPA^(key): [mã̠mbʲikʲi]

Noun

まんびき • (manbiki)

shoplifting
shoplifter

Verb

まんびきする • (manbiki suru) suru (stem まんびきし (manbiki shi), past まんびきした (manbiki shita))

to shoplift

Conjugation

Conjugation of "まんびきする" (See Appendix:Japanese verbs.)

Stem forms
Imperfective (未然形)	まんびきし	manbiki shi
Continuative (連用形)	まんびきし	manbiki shi
Terminal (終止形)	まんびきする	manbiki suru
Attributive (連体形)	まんびきする	manbiki suru
Hypothetical (仮定形)	まんびきすれ	manbiki sure
Imperative (命令形)	まんびきせよ¹ まんびきしろ²	manbiki seyo¹ manbiki shiro²
Key constructions
Passive	まんびきされる	manbiki sareru
Causative	まんびきさせるまんびきさす	manbiki saseru manbiki sasu
Potential	まんびきできる	manbiki dekiru
Volitional	まんびきしよう	manbiki shiyō
Negative	まんびきしない	manbiki shinai
Negative continuative	まんびきせず	manbiki sezu
Formal	まんびきします	manbiki shimasu
Perfective	まんびきした	manbiki shita
Conjunctive	まんびきして	manbiki shite
Hypothetical conditional	まんびきすれば	manbiki sureba
¹ Written imperative ² Spoken imperative

References

2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
“万引”, in 日本大百科全書：ニッポニカ (Nippon Dai Hyakka Zensho: Nipponica, “Encyclopedia Nipponica”)‎ (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, 1984
1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan