がらくた
Japanese
editAlternative spellings |
---|
瓦落多 (uncommon) 我楽多 (uncommon) 瓦落苦多 (uncommon) |
Etymology
editCompound 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”)).[1] 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.[1][2]
First cited to a text from 1724.[1]
Pronunciation
editNoun
edit- [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日がかりとはハリネズミの面汚しだな。」
- “Konna garakuta ni ichinichi-gakari to wa harinezumi no tsurayogoshi da na.”
- “This shoddy craftsmanship is a shame to all hedgehog-kind.”
- [from 1724] a person who is useless or without value, trash
- Synonym: やくざもの (yakuzamono)
References
edit- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 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 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: 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), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN
- ^ Kindaichi, Kyōsuke et al., editors (1997), 新明解国語辞典 [Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten] (in Japanese), Fifth edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN