序詞

Japanese

Etymology 1

Compound of 序 (jo, “beginning”) +‎ 言葉 (kotoba, “words”). The second kanji 詞 is used as a jukujikun.

Noun

序詞 (hiragana じょことば, romaji jokotoba)

1. A monotone prologue with fragmentary samisen accompaniment, used in 浄瑠璃 (Jōruri) (“a type of puppet theater”) and other performance types.

Etymology 2

From Sinitic 序詞.

Noun

序詞 (hiragana じょし, romaji joshi)

1. foreword, preface, prologue