お腹

Japanese

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
腹
なか Grade: 6
irregular

Alternative spellings
御腹 御中

Compound of 御 (o-, honorific prefix) +‎ 中 (naka, “insides; innards, stomach”). Originally coined as a deliberately indirect 女房詞 (nyōbō kotoba, “woman's word”) for 腹 (hara, “belly, gut”).

The use of the 腹 character to spell 中 (naka) appears to be a relatively recent shift; many dictionaries still list 御中 or お中 as the standard spelling for this term, but usage trends clearly show that this お腹 spelling is now more common for the belly senses.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) おなか [ònáká] (Heiban – [0])
• IPA^(key): [o̞na̠ka̠]

Noun

お腹(なか) • (onaka) 

1. belly, tummy, stomach, abdomen

Derived terms

Derived terms

• お腹(なか)が空(す)く (o-naka ga suku): “one's belly becomes empty” → to become hungry
• お腹(なか)を壊(こわ)す (o-naka o kowasu): “to break one's belly” → to become sick to one's stomach, to become ill in one's gut, such as diarrhea
• お腹(なか)を痛(いた)める (o-naka o itameru): “to hurt one's belly” → to give birth

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
腹
はら Grade: 6
kun'yomi

Compound of 御 (o-, honorific prefix) +‎ 腹 (hara, “stomach, belly”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [o̞ha̠ɾa̠]

Noun

お腹(はら) • (ohara) 

1. (archaic, possibly obsolete, honorific) a person used as a form of mildly honorific indirect reference to someone
2. (uncommon) one's mother, specifically one's birth mother
3. (uncommon, honorific) someone's belly

References

• Jim Breen's WWWJDIC Server