おなべ

Japanese

Alternative spellings
御鍋 お鍋 オナベ

Etymology

From 御(お) (o-, honorific) + 鍋(なべ) (nabe, “stew pot”). The LGBT slang sense is by analogy to おかま (okama), literally “rice pot”, a slang term for gay or feminine men. The “maidservant” sense comes from association between maids and cooking or serving food.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) おなべ [ònáꜜbè] (Nakadaka – [2])
• IPA^(key): [o̞na̠be̞]

Noun

おなべ or オナベ • (onabe) 

1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see お,‎ 鍋.
2. (LGBTQ slang, sometimes offensive) butch; dyke; or, a trans man, female-to-male (FTM)
   • 2015 May 6, “Suiyōbi no Dauntaun [Wednesday on ‘Downtown’]”, in TV datazō‎^[1], archived from the original on 24 October 2021:

     オネエとオナベ相撲(すもう)とったらトントン説(せつ)。

     Onē to onabe sumō tottara tonton setsu.

     The theory that it would be steady if MTF and FTM play sumo together.

3. (literary, dated) [from 17th century] (nickname for) a maidservant