ひげ
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Japanese
Etymology 1
| Alternative spellings |
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| 髭 鬚 髯 |
From Old Japanese.
The ge element is likely related to 毛 (ke, “hair, fur”), but further etymology is uncertain. Possibilities include:
- Shift from hohoge (頬 (hoho, “cheek”) + 毛 (ke)) or from hirege (鰭 (hire, “fin”) + 毛 (ke)). Both theories are unlikely unless the term originally referred only to cheek hair.
- Shift from hirakuke (開く (hiraku, “to open”) + 毛 (ke)), literally, “hair of the opening”. This would include other hair around the mouth, although “opening” being used to mean the mouth is unlikely.
- Shift from hege (辺 (he) + 毛 (ke)) or herige (縁 (heri, “edge”) + 毛 (ke)), literally, “edge hair”. Compare 唇 (kuchiberi) being from 口 (kuchi, “mouth”) + 縁 (heri), literally, “mouth edge”.
- The hi element being cognate with Korean 입 (ip, “mouth”).
First attested in the Nihon Shoki of 720 CE.
Pronunciation
Noun
- (broadly) facial hair on the upper lip region, the chin, and the cheeks
- ひげを蓄える ― hige o takuwaeru ― to grow facial hair
- ひげを当たる ― hige o ataru ― to shave one's face
- 794, Shin'yaku Kegonkyō Ongi Shiki:
- 鬚髻 上栗喩反 頤毛也 倭云加末智乃比偈 又花蘂之本也 髻髪也
- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
- (figurative) whiskers (of animals)
- 1905–06, Natsume Sōseki, I Am a Cat (text here)
- 彼の鼻の先からぴんと突張っている長い髭をびりびりと震わせて非常に笑った。
- Kare no hana no saki kara pin to tsuppatteiru nagai hige o biribiri to furuwasete hijō ni waratta.
- He stuck out his whiskers and laughed so hard that they trembled.
- 彼の鼻の先からぴんと突張っている長い髭をびりびりと震わせて非常に笑った。
- 1905–06, Natsume Sōseki, I Am a Cat (text here)
- (figurative) antennae (of insects)
- (figurative) corn silk
Usage notes
- Different senses are specified by location (e.g. 口髭 (kuchihige, “mustache”)) or by use of different kanji—the mustache is 髭, the chin hair is 鬚, and the cheek hair is 髯.
- When written using kana alone, vaguely refers to the mustache, the chin hair, and the cheek hair as a whole without distinguishing.
Derived terms
Derived terms
- 顎鬚 (agohige, “chin hair”)
- 鯨鬚 (kujirahige, “baleen, whalebone”)
- 口髭 (kuchihige, “moustache”)
- 虎鬚 (torahige)
- 鬚黴 (higekabi, “Phycomyces”)
- 髭雀 (higegara, “bearded tit (Panurus biarmicus)”)
- 髭黒 (higekuro)
- 鬚鯨 (higekujira, “baleen whale”)
- 髭剃り (higesori, “shaving; shaving tool”)
- 髭面 (higezura, “bearded face; bearded person”)
- 鬚根 (higene)
- 髭ペンギン (higepengin, “chinstrap penguin (Pygoscelis antarctica)”)
- 髭水蛇 (higemizuhebi, “tentacled snake (Erpeton tentaculatum)”)
- 髭もじゃ (higemoja, “bearded one”)
- 髭奴 (higeyakko)
- 髭鷲 (higewashi, “bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus)”)
- 無精ひげ (bushōhige, “five o'clock shadow”)
- 頬髯 (hōhige, “cheek hair”)
Idioms
- 髭を撫でる (hige o naderu, “to act boastfully, to show off”, literally “to stroke one's beard”)
- 御髭の塵を払う (ohige no chiri o harau, “to flatter, to curry favor”, literally “to brush the dirt of the beard”)
Proverbs
- 竜の鬚を撫で虎の尾を踏む (ryū no hige o nade tora no o o fumu, literally “stroke the beard of a dragon, tread on the tail of a tiger”)
Etymology 2
| For pronunciation and definitions of ひげ – see the following entry. | ||
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| (This term, ひげ, is the hiragana spelling of the above term.) For a list of all kanji read as ひげ, see Category:Japanese kanji read as ひげ.) |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 “髭／鬚／髯／ひげ”, in 語源由来辞典 (Gogen Yurai Jiten, “Etymology Derivation Dictionary”) (in Japanese), 2003–2024.
- ^ “髭・鬚・髯”, in 日本国語大辞典 (Nihon Kokugo Daijiten, “Nihon Kokugo Daijiten”) (in Japanese), concise edition, Tōkyō: Shogakukan, 2000
- ^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN