あかご

Japanese

Alternative spellings
赤子 赤児

Etymology

Attested from the 11th century. From the reddish appearance of newborns;^[1] compare 赤ん坊 (akanbo), 赤ちゃん (aka-chan). Alternatively, perhaps a shift from obsolete 嬰孩 (angko “baby”) or アッ孫 (akko “grandchild”).^[1]

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) あかご [àkágó] (Heiban – [0])^[2]
• IPA^(key): [a̠ka̠ɡo̞]

Noun

あかご • (akago) ^{←あかご (akago)?}

1. baby

Synonyms

• 赤(あか)ちゃん (aka-chan)

References

1. Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
2. Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN