太夫

Japanese

Kanji in this term
太	夫
たゆう
Grade: 2	Grade: 4
irregular

Alternative spelling
大夫

Etymology

Derived from Middle Chinese 太夫 (MC thajH bju|pju), with cross-morpheme 音便 (onbin) sound change that is unusual in Sino-Japanese vocabulary.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) た​ゆう [táꜜyùù] (Atamadaka – [1])
• IPA^(key): [ta̠jɯ̟ᵝː]

Noun

太夫(たゆう) • (tayū) ^{←たいふ (taifu)?}

1. (historical) the highest class of oiran

   Synonym: 本位 (“hon'i”)