まんびき

Japanese

Alternative spellings
万引き
万引

Etymology

/mabiki//maɴbiki/

Shift from 間引き (mabiki, thinning out), from verb 間引く (mabiku, to thin out seedlings; to pull out items from the middle).[1][2] The original term first referred to the process of culling seedlings. Over time, this was used more euphemistically to refer to a shoplifter "thinning out" a store's merchandise.

First attested as manbiki in a text from 1831.[3]

The use of to spell the man portion is an example of ateji (当て字).

Pronunciation

  • (Tokyo) んびき [màńbíkí] (Heiban – [0])[1]
  • IPA(key): [mã̠mbʲikʲi]

Noun

まんびき • (manbiki) 

  1. shoplifting
  2. shoplifter

Verb

まんびきする • (manbiki suru) suru (stem まんびき (manbiki suru shi), past まんびきした (manbiki suru shita))

  1. to shoplift

Conjugation

References

  1. Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  2. 万引”, in 日本大百科全書:ニッポニカ (Nippon Dai Hyakka Zensho: Nipponica, Encyclopedia Nipponica) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, 1984
  3. Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典(新装版) [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN

Further reading

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