雪女

雪女

Japanese

Kanji in this term
雪	女
ゆき Grade: 2	おんな Grade: 1
kun’yomi

雪女 (yuki onna): a depiction of a yuki onna from a 1781 publication.

Etymology

Compound of 雪 (yuki, “snow”) +‎ 女 (onna, “woman”).[1][2][3][4] First mentioned in a text from the late 1500s.[1]

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) ゆきお​んな [yùkíóꜜǹnà] (Nakadaka – [3])[3][4][5]
• IPA^(key): [jɯ̟ᵝkʲiõ̞nːa̠]

Noun

雪(ゆき)女(おんな) • (yuki onna) ^{←ゆきをんな (yukiwonna)?}

1. [from late 1500s] yuki-onna (“snow-woman”): spirit of a woman who perished out in the snow
   • (Can we date this quote?) 岡本綺堂『籠釣瓶』

     傘(かさ)も持(も)たないで門(かど)に立(た)ったのは妹(いもうと)のお光(ひかり)であった。雪(ゆき)はますます強(つよ)くなって来(き)たらしく、彼女(かのじょ)の総身(そうしん)は雪女(ゆきおんな)のように真(ま)っ白(しろ)に塗(ぬ)られていた。

     Kasa mo motanai de kado ni tatta no wa imōto no ohikari de atta. Yuki wa masumasu tsuyoku natte kita rashiku, kanojo no sōshin wa yuki onna no yō ni masshiro ni nurarete ita.

     Standing in the entrance without holding even an umbrella was his younger sister Ohikari. It seemed like the snow had become increasingly stronger; her whole body was painted with snow, like a yuki-onna.

See also

• 雪女 on the Japanese Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^ja
• Yuki-onna on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• 雪(ゆき)男(おとこ) (yuki otoko): abominable snowman (modern calque from English, not related to the mythology of the 雪女)
• 雨(あめ)女(おんな) (ame onna): a woman whose presence always seems to bring rain
• 雨(あめ)男(おとこ) (ame otoko): a man whose presence always seems to bring rain
• 骨(ほね)女(おんな) (hone onna): a female apparition who appears as a skeletal woman

References

1. 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
2. 1995, 大辞泉 (Daijisen) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
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