木偶の坊

Japanese
Kanji in this term
木 偶 坊
Grade: 1 Grade: S ぼう
Grade: S
irregular on’yomi
Alternative spelling
でくの坊

Etymology

Phrase consisting of 木偶 (deku, “wooden puppet”) +‎ の (no, possessive particle) +‎ 坊 (bō, term of endearment). The deku portion is of unknown origin and may have arisen as a standalone term later than as a part of a compound. Theories include:

  • Alteration from 出狂坊／出来坊 (dekurubō), used synonymously, in turn from 出狂坊 (dekuruibō), literally "little one who has gone mad".
  • From 手 (te, “hand”) +‎ 傀儡 (kugutsu, “puppet”) +‎ の +‎ 坊, through dekurubō.
  • From Sino-Japanese 泥偶 (deigū, “clay doll”) +‎ の +‎ 坊.

The third theory is problematic semantically and does not account for the intermediary dekurubō pronunciation.[1]

Pronunciation
  • (Tokyo) でくの​ぼー [dèkúnóꜜbòò] (Nakadaka – [3])[2][3]
  • IPA(key): [de̞kɯ̟ᵝno̞bo̞ː]

Noun

木偶(でく)の坊(ぼう) • (dekunobō) 

  1. doll, puppet
  2. useless person
    彼(かれ)は木偶(でく)の坊(ぼう)にすぎない。
    Kare wa dekunobō ni suginai.
    He is no better than a fool.

References
  1. 語源由来辞典 Gogen Yurai Jiten
  2. Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  3. 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
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