天下り

Japanese edit

Kanji in this term
天	下
あま Grade: 1	くだ Grade: 1
kun’yomi

Alternative spellings
天降り天降

Etymology edit

Compound of 天 (ama, “heaven, heavens”) +‎ 下り (kudari, “the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, stem or continuative form) of verb 下る kudaru, “to descend, to come down””).^[1]^[2]

Pronunciation edit

(Tokyo) あまくだり [àmákúdárí] (Heiban – [0])^[2]
IPA^(key): [a̠ma̠kɯ̟ᵝda̠ɾʲi]

Noun edit

天(あま)下(くだ)り • (amakudari)

descent to earth from heaven
Synonyms: 天降人 (amakudaribito), 天人 (amabito), 天人 (amehito), 天人 (tennin)
the entity making such a visit: an avatar
Synonyms: 化身 (keshin), 権化 (gonge)
in Japan's postwar period, the practice of awarding a high-level bureaucrat with a high-paying job after retirement (also spelled 天下り): a kind of revolving door syndrome

References edit

^ 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 (in Japanese), Third edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN

[KDJ-1] Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN

[DJR-2] 2.0 ^2.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 (in Japanese), Third edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN

[1]

[2]