鬼に金棒

Japanese

Kanji in this term
鬼	金	棒
おに Grade: S	かな Grade: 1	ぼう Grade: 6
kun'yomi		on'yomi

Japanese Wikipedia has an article on:

金砕棒 § 鬼に金棒

Wikipedia ^ja

English Wikipedia has an article on:

Kanabō § Mythology

Wikipedia

Etymology

鬼 (oni) +‎ に (ni) +‎ 金棒 (kanabō). Literally "[giving] a metal club to a demon". The idiom in general is first cited in a text from 1472 as the longer variant 鬼に金砕棒 (oni ni kana saibō);^[1] this shorter form is cited from 1645.^[2]

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [o̞ɲ̟i ɲ̟i ka̠na̠bo̞ː]

Idiom

鬼(おに)に金(かな)棒(ぼう) • (oni ni kanabō)

[from 1645] making someone or something even stronger, adding a decisive advantage
- Synonyms: 鬼に金砕棒 (oni ni kana saibō), 鬼に金撮棒 (oni ni kana saibō), 鬼に金梃子 (oni ni kana teko), 鬼に鉄杖 (oni ni tetsujō)
(for negative situations) making a bad situation worse (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?)
Synonym: 火に油を注ぐ (hi ni abura o sosogu)

References

^ “鬼に金棒”, in 日本国語大辞典 [Nihon Kokugo Daijiten]‎^[1] (in Japanese), concise edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, 2006
^ 鈴木棠三 (“Tōzō Suzuki”), 広田栄太郎 (“Eitarō Hirota”), editors (1968), 故事ことわざ辞典 (Koji Kotowaza Jiten, “Dictionary of Traditional Idioms”)‎^[2] (in Japanese), Tokyo: 東京堂出版株式会社 (Tōkyō Shuppan Kabushiki-Gaisha, “Tokyodo Shuppan Co., Ltd.”), page 158

[KDJc-1] “鬼に金棒”, in 日本国語大辞典 [Nihon Kokugo Daijiten]‎^[1] (in Japanese), concise edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, 2006

[KKJ-2] 鈴木棠三 (“Tōzō Suzuki”), 広田栄太郎 (“Eitarō Hirota”), editors (1968), 故事ことわざ辞典 (Koji Kotowaza Jiten, “Dictionary of Traditional Idioms”)‎^[2] (in Japanese), Tokyo: 東京堂出版株式会社 (Tōkyō Shuppan Kabushiki-Gaisha, “Tokyodo Shuppan Co., Ltd.”), page 158

[1]

[2]