井桁

井桁

Japanese

Kanji in this term
井	桁
い Grade: S	けた > げた Grade: S
kun’yomi

井桁: the wooden frame around the wellhead is the igeta.
井桁: the igeta shape of crossed beams in the ceiling of the US Library of Congress.	井桁: the Igeta family crest.

Etymology

Compound of 井 (i, “well, as in a water source”) +‎ 桁 (keta, “beam, girder”), from the way that four stout wooden beams would be crossed to form the top of a wellhead, similar in shape to a tic-tac-toe board.

The keta changes to geta as an instance of rendaku (連濁).

Pronunciation

• Kun’yomi
  • (Tokyo) い​げた [íꜜgètà] (Atamadaka – [1])[1][2]
  • (Tokyo) いげた [ìgétá] (Heiban – [0])
  • IPA^(key): [iɡe̞ta̠]

Noun

井桁 (hiragana いげた, rōmaji igeta, historical hiragana ゐげた)

1. a puteal: a wellhead for a water well, traditionally consisting of a wooden enclosure framed along the top, and possibly bottom, with stout wooden beams crossed at the ends
2. the symbols #, ＃, or ♯
3. a pattern similar to the symbol #, such as the shape of the crossed beams on a beam or coffered ceiling
4. a kind of 家紋 (kamon, “family seal”) featuring such a symbol
5. the number four in the argot of fishmongers

   Possibly from the way that the character 井 has four strokes, and the way that 桁 (keta) also means digit.

6. an advanced remodelling technique for the chassis of a miniature four-wheel-drive racing model, consisting of a reinforcement similar in shape to a traditional Japanese wellhead

Proper noun

井桁 (hiragana いげた, rōmaji Igeta, historical hiragana ゐげた)

1. a surname

References

1. 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
2. 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, →ISBN