かばしら

Japanese

Alternative spelling
蚊柱

Etymology

Compound of 蚊 (ka, “mosquito”) +‎ 柱 (hashira, “column, pillar”). From the way that a swarm of mosquitoes tends to gather in a roughly vertical shape.^[1]^[2] The hashira changes to bashira as an instance of rendaku (連濁).

First cited to the early 1200s.^[1]

Pronunciation

(Tokyo) かばしら [kàbáꜜshìrà] (Nakadaka – [2])^[2]
(Tokyo) かばしら [kàbáshírá] (Heiban – [0])^[2]
IPA^(key): [ka̠ba̠ɕiɾa̠]

Noun

かばしら • (kabashira)

[from early 1200s] a "mosquito column": a swarm of mosquitoes

References

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 “蚊柱”, in 日本国語大辞典 [Nihon Kokugo Daijiten]‎^[1] (in Japanese), concise edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, 2006
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

[KDJ2-1] 1.0 ^1.1 “蚊柱”, in 日本国語大辞典 [Nihon Kokugo Daijiten]‎^[1] (in Japanese), concise edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, 2006

[DJR-2] 2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

[1]

[2]