がらくた

Japanese

Alternative spellings
瓦落多 (uncommon) 我楽多 (uncommon) 瓦落苦多 (uncommon)

Etymology

Compound of がら (gara), from がらがら (garagara), an onomatopoeia for the sound of objects bumping against each other + くた (kuta), perhaps a contraction of 芥 (akuta, “trash, rubbish”) or related to verb 朽つ (kutsu, “to rot”, Classical and Old Japanese form of modern 朽ちる (kuchiru, “to rot”)). Compare other terms containing this くた (kuta) element, such as くたくた (kutakuta, “broken down, worn out”), 草臥れる (kutabireru, “to become exhausted”), 腐す (kutasu, “to make something rot, to ruin something”).

Kanji spellings such as 瓦落多 and 我楽多 are ateji.

First cited to a text from 1724.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) がらくた [gàrákútá] (Heiban – [0])
• IPA^(key): [ɡa̠ɾa̠kɯ̟̊ᵝta̠]

Noun

がらくた or ガラクタ • (garakuta) 

1. [from 1773] items that are useless or without value, junk, rubbish

   Synonym: (oddment, partial set, one-off) 半端物 (hanpamono)

   「こんなガラクタに一(いち)日(にち)がかりとはハリネズミの面(つら)汚(よご)しだな。」

   “Konna garakuta ni ichinichi-gakari to wa harinezumi no tsurayogoshi da na.”

   “This shoddy craftsmanship is a shame to all hedgehog-kind.”

2. [from 1724] a person who is useless or without value, trash

   Synonym: やくざもの (yakuzamono)