See also: ズボン

Japanese

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Etymology 1

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Onomatopoeia. The zu portion indicates something rubbing or sliding (compare verb 擦る suru, “to rub or slide”), and the bon portion indicates something bumping to a stop or softly popping into or out of place.

This term appears in print in 1860,[1] raising the possibility that the onomatopoeia sense arose from the borrowed noun ズボン (trousers) and the action of putting on a pair of trousers. The initial zu portion does not historically refer to rubbing or sliding, but instead more commonly carries negative connotations of abnormal or sloppy. Alternatively, this is a colloquial term, and it may have been a dialect term, and thus it might be older than its history in print.

Pronunciation

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Adverb

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ずぼん (zubon

  1. (onomatopoeia) imitative of the sound of something rubbing or sliding and then bumping into place or coming out of place
    • 1860, 七偏人 (Shichi Henjin, “Seven Eccentrics”), volume 4:[2]
      (まる)ずぼん(あな)()いた()()(ふん)(どし)を…
      maruku zubon to ana no aita furu fundoshi o…
      [taking] the old loincloth with a round hole just plop hanging open...
Usage notes
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Takes the particle (to), as in the quoted example above.

Etymology 2

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Alternative form of ズボン (zubon, trousers). See that entry for more detail.

For pronunciation and definitions of ずぼん – see the following entry.
ズボン
[noun] trousers (AUS, UK), pants (AUS, Canada, US), strides (AUS), generally refers specifically to men's pants.
(This term, ずぼん (zubon), is the hiragana spelling of the above term.)
For a list of all kanji read as ずぼん, see Category:Japanese kanji read as ずぼん.)

References

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  1. ^ Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典(新装版) [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
  2. ^ 1857-1863, seven volumes published one a year, 妙竹林話 七偏人 (Myō Takebayashi-banashi: Shichi Henjin, “Strange Tales from the Bamboo Forest: Seven Eccentrics”) (in Japanese), by 梅亭 金鵞 (Baitei Kinga); re-published in 1983, Tōkyō: Kodansha, →ISBN