丸太

Japanese

Kanji in this term
丸	太

Compound of 丸 (maru, “circle; round”) +‎ 太 (ta, “fat”, here possibly emphasizing the roundness).

丸太 (hiragana まるた, romaji maruta) (alternative reading hiragana まろた, romaji marota) (less common)

a log: unsawn lumber (UK) or timber (US), a section of a tree cut to a length and with the bark removed, but otherwise round and unfinished
alternate name for the 似鯉 (にごい, nigoi) fish (Hemibarbus barbus); more commonly known as ニゴイ (nigoi)
alternate name for the 鯎 or 石斑魚 (うぐい, ugui) fish, Japanese dace (Tribolodon hakonensis); more commonly known as ウグイ (ugui)
(archaic, slang): during the Edo period, derogatory term for an unlicensed prostitute dressed as a Buddhist nun as a form of disguise from the authorities (from the way the shaven head looks a bit like a debarked log, and from the way that they both roll around)

丸太小屋 (まるたごや, marutagoya): a log cabin
丸太ん棒 (まるたんぼう, marutanbō): a log (more casual)
丸太魚 (まるたうお, maruta uo): a maruta fish: a ニゴイ (nigoi)
丸太式舞台 (まるたしきぶたい, maruta-shiki butai): a log-style (theater) stage, made of hewn logs
丸太舟 (まるたぶね, marutabune): a kind of boat made of logs and used mainly on Lake Biwa starting from the medieval period
丸太洗い, 丸太洗 (まるたあらい, maruta arai): logs used to shore up the bottom of a reservoir pond or sewer outlet

丸太に糠釘 (まるたにぬかくぎ, maruta ni nukakugi): “a tack into a log” → a metaphor for one's intentions or feelings not getting through to another person, much as a tack will not go through a log

^ 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, ISBN 978-4-14-011112-3

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