骸骨を乞う

骸骨を乞う

Japanese

Kanji in this term
骸	骨	乞
がい Grade: S	こつ Grade: 6	こ(う) Grade: S
kan’yōon	kan’on	kun’yomi

Etymology

From the 晏子春秋 (Anshin Shunjū, “Annals of Master Yan”),[1][2][3] a calque of Literary Chinese 乞骸骨.

Literally “offer a skeleton”.

Idiom

骸骨(がいこつ)を乞(こ)う • (gaikotsu o kou) ^{←がいこつをこふ (gaikotuwokofu)?} (kyūjitai 骸骨を乞ふ)

1. to request one's own resignation
   • 728, Shoku Nihongi (Jinki 5, first day of the eighth month)

     正五位下守部連大隅上書、乞_㆓骸骨_㆒。優詔不_㆑許。

     Shōgoi no Ge (Senior Fifth Rank, Lower Grade) Moribe no Muraji Ōsumi wrote a letter to his superior to request his resignation. The grateful imperial decree didn't permit that.

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