木偶の坊

Japanese

Kanji in this term
木	偶	坊
Grade: 1	Grade: S	ぼう Grade: S
irregular		on'yomi

Alternative spelling
でくの坊

Etymology

Phrase consisting of 木偶 (deku, “wooden puppet”) +‎ の (no, possessive particle) +‎ 坊 (bō, term of endearment). The deku portion is of unknown origin and may have arisen as a standalone term later than as a part of a compound. Theories include:

Alteration from 出狂坊／出来坊 (dekurubō), used synonymously, in turn from 出狂坊 (dekuruibō), literally "little one who has gone mad".
From 手 (te, “hand”) +‎ 傀儡 (kugutsu, “puppet”) +‎ の +‎ 坊, through dekurubō.
From Sino-Japanese 泥偶 (deigū, “clay doll”) +‎ の +‎ 坊.

The third theory is problematic semantically and does not account for the intermediary dekurubō pronunciation.^[1]

Pronunciation

(Tokyo) でくのぼー [dèkúnóꜜbòò] (Nakadaka – [3])^[2]^[3]
IPA^(key): [de̞kɯ̟no̞bo̞ː]

Noun

木偶(でく)の坊(ぼう) • (dekunobō)

doll, puppet
useless person
彼(かれ)は木偶(でく)の坊(ぼう)にすぎない。
Kare wa dekunobō ni suginai.
He is no better than a fool.

References

^ 語源由来辞典 Gogen Yurai Jiten
^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: 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), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN

[0-1] 語源由来辞典 Gogen Yurai Jiten

[DJR-2] Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

[NHK-3] 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), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN

[1]

[2]

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