はしくれ

Japanese edit

Alternative spelling
端くれ

Compound of 端 (hashi, “edge; piece of something”) +‎ 塊 (kure, “lump, chunk”).^[1]^[2] Compare similar usage of English lump.

First cited to 1694.^[1]

はしくれ • (hashikure)

[from 1792] small fragment or piece of something
[from 1694] someone or something belonging to a certain group or category, but otherwise nondescript and not worth attention
[date uncertain] (more specifically) unimportant or novice member of a group, rank and file, as opposed to a full-fledged member
- 2005, 藤原正彦 (Fujiwara Masahiko), translated by Giles Murray, 国家の品格 (Kokka no Hinkaku) [The Dignity of the Nation, Bilingual edition], page 4:
  
  数(すう)学(がく)者(しゃ)のはしくれである私(わたし)が、論(ろん)理(り)の力(ちから)を疑(うたが)うようになったのです。
  Sūgakusha no hashikure de aru watashi ga, ronri no chikara o utagau yō ni natta no desu.
  Here I was, a nothing mathematician who had ended up questioning the value of logic!
- 2002, 角野栄子 (Kadono Eiko), 魔女の宅急便 (Majo no Takkyūbin) [Kiki's Delivery Service], page 13:
  
  あたしだってかあさんのむすめです。魔(ま)女(じょ)のはしくれです。
  Atashi datte kā-san no musume desu. Majo no hashikure desu.
  (please add an English translation of this example)

Sense 2 is often used to express one's membership in a group in a non-boastful, humble manner.

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 “はしくれ”, in 日本国語大辞典 (Nihon Kokugo Daijiten, “Nihon Kokugo Daijiten”)‎^[1] (in Japanese), concise edition, Tōkyō: Shogakukan, 2000
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tōkyō: 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), Tōkyō: NHK Publishing, →ISBN
^ Kindaichi, Kyōsuke et al., editors (1997), 新明解国語辞典 [Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten] (in Japanese), Fifth edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN