タバコ

Japanese

Alternative spellings
煙草 烟草 莨 (obsolete) 多葉粉 (obsolete) 丹波粉 (obsolete) 淡婆姑 (obsolete)

Etymology

From Portuguese tabaco.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) タバコ [tàbákó] (Heiban – [0])
• IPA^(key): [ta̠ba̠ko̞]

Noun

タバコ or たばこ • (tabako) 

1. tobacco

   Synonyms: 思い草 (omoigusa), 忘れ草 (wasuregusa)

2. Short for 紙巻きタバコ (kamimaki tabako, “cigarette”).
   • 2008 April 9, Hideaki Sorachi, “第(だい)二(に)百(ひゃく)二(に)訓(くん)　タバコは一(ひと)箱(はこ)に一(いち)、二(に)本(ほん)馬(ば)糞(ふん)みたいな匂(にお)いのする奴(やつ)が入(はい)っている [Lesson 202: Only One or Two Cigarettes Left in a Whole Box Would Smell Like Horsecrap]”, in [銀](ぎん)[魂](たま) [Silver Soul], volume 23 (fiction), Tokyo: Shueisha, →ISBN:

     黙(だま)らんかデルデ‼タバコというのは吸(す)うために存(そん)在(ざい)するのだ　吸(す)えないタバコなどタバコではない‼

     Damaran ka Derude‼ Tabako to iu no wa sū tame ni sonzai suru no da Suenai tabako nado tabako de wa nai‼

     Quiet, Delde!! A cigarette exists so that it can be smoked. An unsmoked cigarette is not a cigarette!!

Usage notes

• Unusually for gairaigo (non-Middle Chinese borrowings), tabako is often written in hiragana. This is particularly seen on convenience store signs, indicating that cigarettes are for sale. This usage (hiragana rather than katakana) is attributed to this being an old borrowing, dating to the nanban trade period (16th & 17th century), before the convention of writing gairaigo as katakana had developed.

Derived terms

• 葉(は)巻(ま)きたばこ (hamaki tabako)

Descendants

• → Early Modern Korean: 담파고 (tamphakwo)
• → Ainu: タンパク (tampaku)

References

• “Tabako”, Bathrobe’s Chinese, Japanese & Vietnamese Writing Systems