天地無用
Japanese
edit| Kanji in this term | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 天 | 地 | 無 | 用 |
| てん Grade: 1 |
ち Grade: 2 |
む Grade: 4 |
よう Grade: 2 |
| on'yomi | |||
Etymology
editShort from 天地 (tenchi, “top and bottom”) + 入替 (irekae, “replace, swap”) + 無用 (muyō, “prohibited”), i.e. "swapping top and bottom is prohibited."
Pronunciation
editPhrase
edit天地無用 • (tenchi muyō)
- (dated) Shipping terminology to indicate that a package must not be flipped: this way up, this side up
Usage notes
edit- This phrase is sometimes misinterpreted as "top and bottom do not matter", using the more readily comprehensible interpretation of 無用 as meaning "useless" but leading to the exact opposite intended meaning ("it is okay to flip this package"). In Japanese postal services this phrase has been largely replaced by more comprehensible ones like この面を上に (kono men o ue ni, “this side up”) and 逆さま厳禁 (sakasama genkin, “upside down prohibition”).
See also
edit- 割れ物注意 (waremono chūi, “caution fragile”)
References
editFurther reading
editCategories:
- Japanese terms spelled with 天 read as てん
- Japanese terms spelled with 地 read as ち
- Japanese terms spelled with 無 read as む
- Japanese terms spelled with 用 read as よう
- Japanese terms read with on'yomi
- Japanese compound terms
- Japanese terms with IPA pronunciation
- Japanese lemmas
- Japanese phrases
- Japanese terms with multiple readings
- Japanese terms spelled with first grade kanji
- Japanese terms spelled with second grade kanji
- Japanese terms spelled with fourth grade kanji
- Japanese terms written with four Han script characters
- Japanese dated terms