お腹 - Wiktionary, the free dictionary


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Kanji in this term
腹
なか
Grade: 6
irregular
Alternative spellings
御腹
御中

Compound of 御 (o-, honorific prefix) +‎ 中 (naka, “insides; innards, stomach”). Originally coined as a deliberately indirect 女房詞 (nyōbō kotoba, “woman's word”) for 腹 (hara, “belly, gut”).[1][2]

The use of the 腹 character to spell 中 (naka) appears to be a relatively recent shift; many dictionaries still list 御中 or お中 as the standard spelling for this term,[1][2][3][4] but usage trends clearly show that this お腹 spelling is now more common for the belly senses.

お腹(なか) • (onaka) 

  1. belly, tummy, stomach, abdomen

Derived terms

Kanji in this term
腹
はら
Grade: 6
kun'yomi

Compound of 御 (o-, honorific prefix) +‎ 腹 (hara, “stomach, belly”).[1]

お腹(はら) • (ohara) 

  1. (archaic, possibly obsolete, honorific) a person used as a form of mildly honorific indirect reference to someone
  2. (uncommon) one's mother, specifically one's birth mother
  3. (uncommon, honorific) someone's belly
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  3. ^ Matsumura, Akira (1995) 大辞泉 [Daijisen] (in Japanese), First edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, →ISBN
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Kindaichi, Kyōsuke et al., editors (1997), 新明解国語辞典 [Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten] (in Japanese), Fifth edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  5. ^ NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN