やもお

Japanese

Alternative spellings
鰥夫 寡男 鰥

Etymology

From Old Japanese. Originally a compound of an uncertain element やも (yamo) + 男(お) (o, “man”).^[1] The same element is also found in やもめ (yamome, “widow”), a compound with 女(め) (me, “woman”).

First attested in the Nihon Shoki of 720 CE.^[1]

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) やもお [yàmóó] (Heiban – [0])^[2][3]
• IPA^(key): [ja̠mo̞o̞]

Noun

やもお • (yamoo) ^{←やもを (yamowo)?}

1. (archaic) widower

Synonyms

• 男(おとこ)やもめ (otokoyamome), 鰥(やもめ) (yamome), 寡夫(かふ) (kafu)

References

1. “鰥夫”, in 日本国語大辞典 [Nihon Kokugo Daijiten]‎ (in Japanese), concise edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, 2006
2. Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
3. Yamada, Tadao et al., editors (2011), 新明解国語辞典 [Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten] (in Japanese), Seventh edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN