けんぱ

Japanese

Etymology 1

Likely from けんけん (kenken, “hopping”), perhaps via a regional dialect form such as きんぱ or けんけんば in central Japan. (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “earliest attestation, variants, etc.”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [kẽ̞mpa̠]

Noun

けんぱ • (kenpa) 

1. a game similar to hopscotch

   Synonyms: けんけんぱ (kenkenpa), 石蹴 (ishikeri)

Usage notes

The game is played by drawing a series of circles or squares on the ground, then players jump from one section to the next, landing alternately on one foot or both feet. In the ishikeri (lit. “stone-kick”) variant, players kick a stone from one section to the next while jumping. Manner of play varies across regions.

See also

• けんけん (kenken, “hopping on one foot”)

References

• “けんぱ”, in デジタル大辞泉 [Digital Daijisen]‎^[1] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, updated roughly every four months
• “けんけん”, in 日本方言大辞典 (Nihon Hōgen Daijiten) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, 2005
• “石蹴”, in Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN

Etymology 2

For pronunciation and definitions of けんぱ – see the following entry.

【検波】 [noun] (electronics) demodulation, detection (of radio waves)

(This term, けんぱ (kenpa), is the hiragana spelling of the above term.)