女房

Japanese

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
女	房
にょう Grade: 1	ぼう Grade: S
kan'yōon	goon

Probably ultimately from Middle Chinese 女房 (MC nrjoX bjang), with an initial meaning in line with the spelling: 女 (woman) + 房 (“room, chamber”). First cited to 985.^[1]

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) にょーぼー [nyóꜜòbòò] (Atamadaka – [1])^[2][3][4]
• IPA^(key): [ɲ̟o̞ːbo̞ː]

Noun

女(にょう)房(ぼう) • (nyōbō) ^{←にようばう (nyoubau)?}

1. [from 985] a woman who works in the imperial household and is granted personal living quarters in the imperial grounds; (more generally) a female servant for a high-ranking household
2. [from 1120] one's female lover or love interest
3. [from late 1200s] (more specifically) one's own wife (in modern usage, often has humble nuances: generally not used when speaking to others to refer to another person's wife)
   • 1940, Osamu Dazai, Hashire Melos [Run, Melos!]‎:

     メロスには父(ちち)も、母(はは)も無(な)い。女(にょう)房(ぼう)も無(な)い。

     Merosu ni wa chichi mo, haha mo nai. Nyōbō mo nai.

     Melos had no father or mother. Nor had he a wife.

4. [from 1118] (historical, archaic) a nom de plume used by royalty, nobility, and other high-ranking authors in poetry contests, to avoid biasing the judges

Derived terms

• 女(にょう)房(ぼう)詞(ことば) (nyōbō kotoba)

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
女	房
にょう Grade: 1	ぼう > ぼ Grade: S
kan'yōon	irregular

• /njoːboː/ → /njoːbo/

Shortening of the final vowel in 女房 (nyōbō).^[1][2][5]

First cited to 1752.^[1]

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) にょーぼ [nyóꜜòbò] (Atamadaka – [1])^[2]
• IPA^(key): [ɲ̟o̞ːbo̞]

Noun

女(にょう)房(ぼ) • (nyōbo) ^{←にようぼ (nyoubo)?}

1. [from 1752] one's own wife (in modern usage, often has humble nuances: generally not used when speaking to others to refer to another person's wife)

Etymology 3

Kanji in this term
女	房
にょう > にゅう Grade: 1	ぼう Grade: S
irregular	goon

Shift from 女房 (nyōbō).^[1][2][5]

First cited to a text from the late 1100s.^[1]

This form of the word gained greater currency during the Muromachi period (1336–1573), then fell out of use in the early Edo period (1603–1868). It is possible that this form of the word is simply an orthographical variant; various Japanese references indicate that it might have still been pronounced as something like nyōbō.^[1][2][5][6]

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) にゅうぼー [nyúꜜùbòò] (Atamadaka – [1]) (actual pronunciation uncertain)
• IPA^(key): [ɲ̟ɨːbo̞ː]

Noun

女(にゅう)房(ぼう) • (nyūbō) ^{←にうばう (niubau)?}

1. [late 1100s – early 1600s] (archaic) one's wife

References

1. “女房”, in 日本国語大辞典 [Nihon Kokugo Daijiten]‎ (in Japanese), concise edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, 2006
2. Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
3. Kindaichi, Kyōsuke et al., editors (1997), 新明解国語辞典 [Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten] (in Japanese), Fifth edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
4. 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
5. “女房”, in デジタル大辞泉 [Digital Daijisen]‎ (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, updated roughly every four months
6. Shinmura, Izuru, editor (1998), 広辞苑 [Kōjien] (in Japanese), Fifth edition, Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, →ISBN