女房詞

Japanese

Japanese Wikipedia has an article on:

女房言葉

Wikipedia ^ja

English Wikipedia has an article on:

Nyōbō kotoba

Wikipedia

Kanji in this term
女	房	詞
にょう Grade: 1	ぼう Grade: S	ことば Grade: 6
kan'yōon	goon	kun'yomi

Alternative spelling
女房言葉

Etymology

Compound of 女房 (nyōbō, “lady in waiting”) +‎ 言葉 (kotoba, “word; language”)^[1][2]

Both spellings, 女房詞 and 女房言葉, are in use. The 女房詞 spelling appears to be more common, and is listed as the main form in dictionaries.^[1][2][3][4]

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) にょーぼーことば [nyòóbóó kóꜜtòbà] (Nakadaka – [5])^[2]
• IPA^(key): [ɲ̟o̞ːbo̞ː ko̞to̞ba̠]

Noun

女(にょう)房(ぼう)詞(ことば) • (nyōbō kotoba) ^{←にようばうことば (nyoubaukotoba)?}

1. a cant or secret language of ladies-in-waiting in the imperial court, arising during the Muromachi period and later spreading to the general population
2. a word originally belonging to this cant

   「おしゃもじ」は元(もと)元(もと)「杓(しゃく)子(し)」の女(にょう)房(ぼう)詞(ことば)でした。

   “O-shamoji” wa motomoto “shakushi” no nyōbō kotoba deshita.

   "O-shamoji" was originally the woman's word for "shakushi" (rice scoop).

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
3. Matsumura, Akira (1995) 大辞泉 [Daijisen] (in Japanese), First edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, →ISBN
4. Kindaichi, Kyōsuke et al., editors (1997), 新明解国語辞典 [Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten] (in Japanese), Fifth edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN