水商売

Japanese

Kanji in this term
水	商	売
みず Grade: 1	しょう Grade: 3	ばい Grade: 2
kun'yomi	on'yomi	kan'on

Alternative spelling
水商賣 (kyūjitai)

Japanese Wikipedia has an article on:

水商売

Wikipedia ^ja

English Wikipedia has an article on:

Mizu shōbai

Wikipedia

Alternative forms

• (informal) お水(みず) (o-mizu)

Etymology

Compound of 水 (mizu, “water”) +‎ 商売 (shōbai, “business, trade”).^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

First cited to a text from 1747.^[2]

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) みずしょーばい [mìzúshóꜜòbàì] (Nakadaka – [3])^[4][5][6]
• IPA^(key): [mʲizɨɕo̞ːba̠i]

Noun

水(みず)商(しょう)売(ばい) • (mizu shōbai) 

1. bar and restaurant business
2. chancy trade
3. nightlife business

References

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