白河夜船

Japanese

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
白	河	夜	船
しら Grade: 1	かわ Grade: 5	よ Grade: 2	ふね Grade: 2
kun’yomi

Alternative spellings
白川夜船 白川夜舟

From a folk story in which someone who pretended to have visited Kyōto was asked about Shirakawa (白河/白川), misinterpreted it as the name of a river, and answered that he or she didn't know because he or she crossed it on a night boat.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) しらかわよ​ふね [shìrákáwá yóꜜfùnè] (Nakadaka – [5])
• IPA^(key): [ɕiɾa̠ka̠ɰᵝa̠ jo̞ɸɯ̟ᵝne̞]

Idiom

白(しら)河(かわ)夜(よ)船(ふね) • (shirakawa yofune) ^{←しらかはよふね (sirakafayofune)?}

1. being fast asleep, dead to the world when sleeping
2. pretending to know everything, a know-it-all manner

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
白	河	夜	船
しら Grade: 1	かわ Grade: 5	よ Grade: 2	ふね > ぶね Grade: 2
kun’yomi

Alternative spellings
白川夜船 白川夜舟

/ɕirakawa yofune/ → /ɕirakawa yobune/

Shift in reading for the 夜船 portion. The fune changes to bune as an instance of rendaku (連濁).

Idiom

白(しら)河(かわ)夜(よ)船(ぶね) • (shirakawa yobune) ^{←しらかはよぶね (sirakafayobune)?}

1. Alternative form of 白河夜船 (shirakawa yofune)