あばら

Japanese

Etymology 1

Alternative spellings
荒ら 疎ら (less common) 荒 (rare) 疎 (rare)

Recorded since at least the early 900s CE.^[1][2] Cognate with verb 暴れる (abareru, “to be disorderly, to be wild, to be violent”).^[1][2] Likely also cognate with verb あばく (abaku, “to dig up; to unrestrict, to cut loose; to expose”), adverb and adjective ばらばら (barabara, “scattered; inconsistent; disordered; in a disordered fashion”), verbs ばれる (bareru, “to be exposed; to be broken down”) and ばらす (barasu, “to expose; to break something down”). Possibly also cognate with adjective 淡い (awai, “faint, slight (as of a color or emotion); inconsistent, disjointed, flippant, frivolous (as of thought or behavior)”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [a̠ba̠ɾa̠]

• Pitch accent uncertain.

Adjective

あばら • (abara) -na (adnominal あばらな (abara na), adverbial あばらに (abara ni))

1. (archaic, possibly obsolete) 荒ら, 荒, 疎ら, 疎: loosely spaced, sparse, with large gaps, wide open
2. (archaic, possibly obsolete) 荒ら, 荒, 疎ら, 疎: broken down, ruined, wild
3. (archaic, possibly obsolete) 荒ら, 荒, 疎ら, 疎: not heartfelt, insincere, flippant (as of behavior or attitude)

Usage notes

Modern dictionaries do not indicate any pitch accent for this term,^[2][3] suggesting that it has fallen out of use as a standalone term. It persists in some compounds.

Derived terms

• 肋(あばら) (abara, “rib”, see below)
• 肋(あばら)骨(ぼね) (abarabone, “rib”)
• 疎(あば)ら垂(だる)木(き) (abaradaruki, “widely spaced rafters”)
• 疎(あば)ら籬(まがき) (abaramagaki, “a widely spaced fence”)
• 荒(あば)ら家(や), 荒家(あばらや), 荒(あば)ら屋(や), 荒屋(あばらや) (abaraya, “a broken-down or dilapidated house, a hovel”, used as a humble reference to one's own home)
• 疎(まば)ら, 疏(まば)ら (mabara, “sparse, widely spaced, mostly empty”)

Etymology 2

Alternative spelling
肋

Shortened from the longer expression 肋骨 (abarabone, “rib, rib bone”), itself derived from abara above by extension from the sense of with large gaps, as in bones with gaps between in reference to the gaps between the ribs.^[4]

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) あばら [àbárá] (Heiban – [0])^[2]
• IPA^(key): [a̠ba̠ɾa̠]

Noun

あばら • (abara) 

1. 肋: rib, rib cage

Derived terms

• 肋(ばら)肉(にく), ばら肉(にく) (baraniku, “rib meat”)
• 肋(ばら), ばら (bara, “rib meat”)

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. 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
4. Matsumura, Akira (1995) 大辞泉 [Daijisen] (in Japanese), First edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, →ISBN