天地無用
Japanese
| Kanji in this term | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 天 | 地 | 無 | 用 |
| てん Grade: 1 | ち Grade: 2 | む Grade: 4 | よう Grade: 2 |
| on’yomi | |||
Etymology
天地 (tenchi, “heaven and earth”) + 無用 (muyō, “prohibited”), i.e. "swapping heaven and earth is prohibited."
Such use of 無用 is not very common. In addition, the surface meaning is that one "must not heaven and earth". As such, this phrase is sometimes misinterpreted as "heaven and earth do not matter", using the more readily comprehensible interpretation of 無用 as meaning "useless" but leading to the exact opposite intended meaning ("it is okay to flip this package").
Pronunciation
- On’yomi
- (Tokyo) てんちむよー [téꜜǹchì mùyòò] (Atamadaka – [1])[1]
- IPA(key): [tẽ̞ɲ̟t͡ɕi mɯ̟ᵝjo̞ː]
Phrase
天地無用 (hiragana てんちむよう, rōmaji tenchi muyō)
- Shipping terminology to indicate that a package must not be flipped: this way up, this side up
See also
- 割れ物注意 (waremono chūi, “fragile”)
References
- 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
Further reading
- http://www.bunka.go.jp/prmagazine/rensai/kotoba/kotoba_008.html