See also: and
U+732B, 猫
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-732B

[U+732A]
CJK Unified Ideographs
[U+732C]

Translingual edit

Stroke order
 
Stroke order
(Chinese)
 
Stroke order
(Japan)
 
Japanese
Simplified
Traditional

Han character edit

(Kangxi radical 94, +8, 11 strokes, cangjie input 大竹廿田 (KHTW), four-corner 44260, composition )

Derived characters edit

References edit

  • Kangxi Dictionary: page 714, character 27
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 20535
  • Dae Jaweon: page 1127, character 1
  • Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 1352, character 1
  • Unihan data for U+732B


Chinese edit

Glyph origin edit

Phono-semantic compound (形聲形声, OC *mrew): semantic + phonetic (OC *mrew).

Definitions edit

For pronunciation and definitions of – see (“cat; to hide oneself; etc.”).
(This character is the simplified and variant form of ).
Notes:

Japanese edit

 
Japanese Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia ja

Kanji edit

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

Readings edit

Compounds edit

Etymology 1 edit

Kanji in this term
ねこ
Grade: S
kun’yomi

⟨neko1/neko/

From Old Japanese. Cognate with Miyako にか (nika, cat, Tarama and Minna dialects) via unknown Japonic substratum.

A comparison of accent patterns between the dialects shows some confusion (see dialectal data):

  • One group of dialects behaves as if <LF> was the Heian Kyoto accent pattern: many dialects with the Tokyo type accent, including the standard Japanese in Tokyo, pronounce this word with an <HL-L> pitch pattern, and in some non-mainstream Keihan type dialects as well, this word has a corresponding <LF> pitch pattern.
  • Another group of dialects behaves as if <LL> was the Heian Kyoto accent pattern: the mainstream Keihan type dialects pronounce this word with an <HL> pitch pattern, and in a few of the Tokyo type dialects, this word has a corresponding <LH-L> pitch pattern.

As a result, this term is one example of words that have the same pitch accent pattern between Tokyo and Osaka/Kyoto. The confusion seems to be due to an impression that the term comes from a compound word origin. (Can this(+) etymology be sourced?)

One theory explains that neko is shortened from earlier (ねこま) (nekoma), but neko has a first appearance in literature earlier than that for nekoma.

First attested in the 新訳華厳経音義私記 (Shin'yaku Kegonkyō Ongi Shiki) of 794.[1]

猫狸 [...] ニ又漢云野貍、倭言上尼古、下多〻既
Cat and raccoon dog, [...] both of them are called 野貍 (yari) in Chinese; the former is called 尼古 (⟨neko1 → neko) while the latter is called 多〻既 (⟨tatake2 → tatake) in Japanese.

Pronunciation edit

Dialectal data

Modern dialectal data

Note: The information are extracted per se, in a broad IPA transcription by the author. There may be inaccuracies in the data. For Hachijō and Ryukyuan data, see their corresponding entries.

/ɯ̈/ is a described as a "central vowel", but the precise transcription is unclear.

Data source (unless missing): Hirayama, Teruo (平山 照男); Ōshima Ichirō (大島 一郎); Ōno Masao (大野 眞男); Kuno Makoto (久野 眞); Kuno Mariko (久野 マリ子); Sugimura Takao (杉村 孝夫) (1992-1994) 現代日本語方言大辞典 [Dictionary of Japanese Dialects], Tokyo: Meiji Shoin (明治書院)


Other dialectal data

Ishikawa, Tottori ニコ (niko), Kagoshima ネゴ (nego), Chiba ネコ゚ (ne'ngo), Tokushima ネコー (nekō)[2]



Noun edit

(ねこ) or (ネコ) (neko (counter )

  1. [from 794] a cat
    (ねこ)()(ひき)()
    Neko ga nihiki iru.
    There are two cats.
    (いえ)(ねこ)(さんびき)います
    Ie ni wa neko ga sanbiki imasu.
    There are three cats in the house.

Usage notes edit

  • As with many terms that name organisms, this term is often spelled in katakana, especially in biological contexts (where katakana is customary), as ネコ.
Derived terms edit
Idioms edit

Etymology 2 edit

Kanji in this term
ねこま
Grade: S
kun’yomi
Alternative spelling
猫ま

According to the 和名類聚抄 (Wamyō Ruijushō), 931–938, (ねこ) (neko) is short for this word.

938, Minamoto no Shitagō, Wamyō Ruijushō, volume 7, page 56:
猫: 野王案、猫、音苗、禰古麻、下總本有和名二字興河海抄引此合、本草和名同訓、或省云禰古、新撰字鏡、狸、禰古、按狸一名猫、見本草和名、似虎而小、熊捕鼠為糧
Cat. Recorded as a long jewel. The Chinese reading is myō; [in Japanese it is read as] nekoma. (please add a translation of the rest of this usage example)

One theory describes the first mora <ne> as onomatopoeia for the sound a cat makes (cf. にゃ (nya); compare English mew, meow). The last two morae <ko1ma> might accord with (くま) (kuma, bear) if it were from Proto-Japonic *koma (class 2.3 <LL>), in the sense of "four-legged animal". The Heian Kyoto accent of this word is <LHL>; note that in compound words for species names, the pitch pattern may be simplised to <-HL> when the final element is a 2-mora noun (Can this(+) etymology be sourced?), and the presence or absence of this phenomenon could explain the accent confusion in neko. (Can this(+) etymology be sourced?)

However, nekoma is first cited to 918 in the 本草和名 (Honzō Wamyō, the oldest surviving dictionary of medicine in Japan),[5] while neko is first attested in 794.

c. 918, Honzō Wamyō:
家狸、一名猫、和名禰古末
A house raccoon; also called a cat; the Japanese name is nekoma.

Pronunciation edit

Dialectal data



Other dialectal data

Gifu (Hida) ねこま (nekoma, a backpack made with the skin or straw of (hinoki, cypress tree))[5][6]



Noun edit

(ねこま) (nekoma

  1. [918–???] (obsolete) a cat

References edit

  1. ^ Omodaka, Hisataka (1967) 時代別国語大辞典 上代編 [The dictionary of historical Japanese: Old Japanese] (in Japanese), →ISBN, page 559
  2. 2.0 2.1 ね‐こ 【猫】”, in 日本国語大辞典 (Nihon Kokugo Daijiten, Nihon Kokugo Daijiten)  [1] (in Japanese), 2nd edition, Tōkyō: Shogakukan, 2000, released online 2007, →ISBN, concise edition entry available here (Note: Dialectal meanings, etymological theories, pronunciation including modern, dialectal, and historical information, Jōdai Tokushu Kanazukai, historical dictionaries containing this word, and the kanji spellings in those dictionaries have been omitted.)
  3. ^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006) 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  4. ^ 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
  5. 5.0 5.1 ねこ‐ま 【猫─】”, in 日本国語大辞典 (Nihon Kokugo Daijiten, Nihon Kokugo Daijiten)  [2] (in Japanese), 2nd edition, Tōkyō: Shogakukan, 2000, released online 2007, →ISBN, concise edition entry available here (Note: Dialectal meanings, etymological theories, pronunciation including modern, dialectal, and historical information, Jōdai Tokushu Kanazukai, historical dictionaries containing this word, and the kanji spellings in those dictionaries have been omitted.)
  6. ^ ねこ【猫】”, in 日本方言大辞典 (Nihon Hōgen Daijiten, Nihon Hōgen Daijiten)  [3] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, 1989, released online 2016, →ISBN

Korean edit

Etymology edit

From Middle Chinese (MC mjew). Recorded as Middle Korean / (myo) (Yale: myo) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.

Hanja edit

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

Wikisource

(eumhun 고양이 (goyang'i myo))

  1. Hanja form? of (cat).

Compounds edit

References edit

  • 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전/電子字典. [4]

Okinawan edit

Kanji edit

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

Readings edit

Compounds edit

Noun edit

(まやー) (mayā

  1. cat

References edit

Yaeyama edit

Kanji edit

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

Noun edit

(まやー) (mayā

  1. cat

Yoron edit

Kanji edit

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

Noun edit

(みゃんか) (myanka

  1. cat