落とし穴

Japanese

Kanji in this term
落	穴
お Grade: 3	な Grade: 6
kun'yomi

Alternative spellings
落穴 落し穴

Etymology

Compound of 落(お)とし (otoshi, “dropping, making something fall”, the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of verb 落(お)とす (otosu, “to drop something, to make something fall”)) + 穴(あな) (ana, “hole”).^[1][2][3][4] Originally referred to a kind of trap.^[3]

First attested to the early 1200s.^[1]

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) おとしあな [òtóshíꜜànà] (Nakadaka – [3])^[3][4][5]
• IPA^(key): [o̞to̞ɕia̠na̠]

Noun

落(お)とし穴(あな) • (otoshiana) 

1. [from early 1200s] a pit trap or snare

   Synonym: 落とし (otoshi)

2. [from late 1600s] a hole in the top of a box or other container for dropping things in
3. [from early 1700s] (figuratively) a deliberate ploy to deceive someone into a bad situation: a deliberate pitfall

   Synonyms: 策略 (sakuryaku), 謀略 (bōryaku)

4. [from early 1900s] (figuratively) an unknown pitfall, a non-deliberate hidden risk

References

1. “落穴”, in 日本国語大辞典 [Nihon Kokugo Daijiten]‎ (in Japanese), concise edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, 2006
2. “落し穴”, in デジタル大辞泉 [Digital Daijisen]‎ (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, updated roughly every four months
3. Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →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
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