孤児

Japanese

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
孤	児
こ Grade: S	じ Grade: 4
on'yomi

Alternative spelling
孤兒 (kyūjitai)

From Middle Chinese 孤兒 (MC ku nye|ngej).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) こじ [kóꜜjì] (Atamadaka – [1])
• IPA^(key): [ko̞ʑi]

Noun

孤(こ)児(じ) • (koji) 

1. an orphan

Derived terms

• 孤児院(こじいん) (kojiin): an orphanage

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
孤	児
みなしご
Grade: S	Grade: 4
irregular

Alternative spellings
孤兒 (kyūjitai) みなし児 身無し子

Jukujikun (熟字訓) spelling for the term みなしご (minashigo), itself a compound of 身 (mi, “identity, family”) +‎ 無し (nashi, “none, without”) +‎ 子 (ko, “child”). The ko changes to go as an instance of rendaku (連濁).

Alternative forms

• 孤 (less common)

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) みなしご [mìnáshíꜜgò] (Nakadaka – [3])
• (Tokyo) みなしご [mìnáshígó] (Heiban – [0])
• IPA^(key): [mʲina̠ɕiɡo̞]

Noun

孤児(みなしご) • (minashigo) 

1. an orphan

Derived terms

• 孤児(みなしご)薬(やく) (minashigo yaku): an orphan drug