お母さん

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Japanese

Etymology

Kanji in this term
母
かあ
Grade: 2
kun'yomi

お (o-, honorific prefix) +‎ 母 (kā, “mother”) +‎ さん (-san, honorific suffix).

/okakasama/ → /okkasama/ → /okaːsama/

/okakasan/ → /okkasama/ → /okaːsan/

Attested in Osaka and Kyoto, with rare use in Edo (Tokyo), from the late Edo period, especially among upper-middle class households in Osaka.[1]

Usage became widespread in the 20th century after the Ministry of Education adopted お父(とう)さん (otōsan, “father”) and お母(かあ)さん for use in 尋常小学読本 (Jinjō shōgaku dokuhon “Standard elementary school reader”, 1903).[1]

Pronunciation

Noun

お母(かあ)さん • (okāsan) 

  1. (honorific) mother; one's mother

Alternative forms

Descendants

  • Min Nan: 卡桑 (khà-sàng) (Taiwanese)

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
  2. ^ 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
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