なきぼくろ

Japanese

Alternative spellings
泣き黒子 泣きぼくろ 泣きボクロ

Etymology

From 泣(な)き (naki, “crying, 連(れん)用(よう)形(けい) (ren'yōkei, “stem or continuative form”) of the verb 泣(な)く (naku, “to cry”).”) + 黒子(ほくろ) (hokuro, “mole”). The hokuro changes to bokuro as an instance of rendaku (連濁).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) なきぼ​くろ [nàkíbóꜜkùrò] (Nakadaka – [3])
• IPA^(key): [na̠kʲibo̞kɯ̟ᵝɾo̞]

Noun

なきぼくろ or なきボクロ • (nakibokuro) ^{←なきぼくろ (nakibokuro)?}

1. A mole that is situated under an eye. Japanese folk belief believes that this is a sign that one is prone to crying.

Hypernyms

• 黒子(ほくろ) (hokuro, “mole”)