大根役者

Japanese edit

Kanji in this term
大	根	役	者
だい Grade: 1	こん Grade: 3	やく Grade: 3	しゃ Grade: 3
on’yomi

Alternative spelling
大根役者 (kyūjitai)

Etymology edit

Compound of 大根 (daikon, “Chinese radish”) +‎ 役者 (yakusha, “actor”).^[1]^[2]

Derivation unknown. Possibly from the way that daikon as a food may be considered unsophisticated and crude; from the way that daikon are white (白い shiroi), alluding to the term 素人 (shirōto, “amateur; hack”); or from a well-known witticism that no matter how much daikon one eats, it never causes food poisoning / is worth notice (hinging upon the verb 当たる (ataru), meaning either “to hit the mark” / “to be worth notice”, or “to cause food poisoning”).^[2]

Pronunciation edit

(Tokyo) だいこんやくしゃ [dàíkóń yáꜜkùshà] (Nakadaka – [5])^[2]^[3]
IPA^(key): [da̠ikõ̞ɰ̃ ja̠kɯ̟̊ᵝɕa̠]

Noun edit

大(だい)根(こん)役(やく)者(しゃ) • (daikon yakusha)

(slang) a bad actor, a wooden actor, a ham actor

References edit

^ Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 (in Japanese), Third edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
^ 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), Tōkyō: NHK Publishing, →ISBN

[KDJ-1] Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN

[DJR-2] 2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 (in Japanese), Third edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN

[NHK-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), Tōkyō: NHK Publishing, →ISBN

[1]

[2]

[3]