わがくに

わがくに

Japanese

Alternative spellings
我が国 我国 わが国

Etymology

From Old Japanese. First cited in the Kojiki of 712.[1]

Nominal phrase, composed of 我 (wa, “I, me”) +‎ が (ga, genitive or possessive particle in Old Japanese) +‎ 国 (kuni, “country, nation”).[1][2][3][4]

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) わ​がくに [wáꜜgàkùnì] (Atamadaka – [1])[3][4][5]
• IPA^(key): [ɰᵝa̠ɡa̠kɯ̟ᵝɲ̟i]

Noun

わがくに • (wa ga kuni) 

1. [from 712] our country (i.e. Japan)

Synonyms

• 本邦(ほんぽう) (honpō)

References

1. “わがくに”, in 日本国語大辞典 (Nihon Kokugo Daijiten, “Nihon Kokugo Daijiten”)‎ (in Japanese), 2nd edition, Tōkyō: Shogakukan, 2000, →ISBN
2. “わがくに”, in デジタル大辞泉 (Dejitaru Daijisen)‎ (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, updated roughly every four months
3. 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
4. 1997, 新明解国語辞典 (Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten), Fifth Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
5. 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, →ISBN