世間話

Japanese

Kanji in this term
世	間	話
せ Grade: 3	けん Grade: 2	はなし > ばなし Grade: 2
on'yomi		kun'yomi

Etymology

Compound of 世間 (seken, “people, society”) +‎ 話 (banashi, “story”). The hanashi changes to banashi as an instance of rendaku (連濁).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) せけんばなし [sèkéńbáꜜnàshì] (Nakadaka – [4])^[1]
• IPA^(key): [se̞kẽ̞mba̠na̠ɕi]

Noun

世(せ)間(けん)話(ばなし) • (sekenbanashi) 

1. gossip, small talk

   Synonym: 噂話 (uwasabanashi)

References

1. Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN