ずぼん

See also: ズボン

Japanese

Etymology 1

Onomatopoeia. The zu portion indicates something rubbing or sliding (compare verb 擦る suru, “to rub or slide”), and the bon portion indicates something bumping to a stop or softly popping into or out of place.

This term appears in print in 1860, raising the possibility that the onomatopoeia sense arose from the borrowed noun ズボン (“trousers”) and the action of putting on a pair of trousers. The initial zu portion does not historically refer to rubbing or sliding, but instead more commonly carries negative connotations of abnormal or sloppy. Alternatively, this is a colloquial term, and it may have been a dialect term, and thus it might be older than its history in print.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) ずぼん [zùbóń] (Heiban – [0])
• IPA^(key): [d͡zɨbõ̞ɴ]

Adverb

ずぼん • (zubon) 

1. (onomatopoeia) imitative of the sound of something rubbing or sliding and then bumping into place or coming out of place
   • 1860, 七偏人 (Shichi Henjin, “Seven Eccentrics”), volume 4:

     丸(まる)くずぼんと穴(あな)の明(あ)いた古(ふ)犢(る)鼻(ふん)褌(どし)を…

     maruku zubon to ana no aita furu fundoshi o…

     [taking] the old loincloth with a round hole just plop hanging open...

Usage notes

Takes the particle と (to), as in the quoted example above.

Etymology 2

Alternative form of ズボン (zubon, “trousers”). See that entry for more detail.

For pronunciation and definitions of ずぼん – see the following entry.

【ズボン】 [noun] trousers (AUS, UK), pants (AUS, Canada, US), strides (AUS), generally refers specifically to men's pants.

(This term, ずぼん (zubon), is the hiragana spelling of the above term.) For a list of all kanji read as ずぼん, see Category:Japanese kanji read as ずぼん.)