女形

Japanese

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
女 形
おんな
Grade: 1		 かた > がた
Grade: 2
kun’yomi

Compound of 女 (onna, “woman”) +‎ 形 (kata, “form”).[1][2] The kata changes to gata as an instance of rendaku (連濁).

Pronunciation

Alternative forms

Noun

女形 (hiragana おんながた, rōmaji onnagata, historical hiragana をんながた)

  1. male actor who plays female roles in kabuki theater: onnagata

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
女 形
Grade: 1 Grade: 2
Irregular

Appears from the early Edo period, around the mid to late 1600s, originally in reference to doll figurines of courtesans made by Oyama Jirōsaburō (小山次郎三郎).[1][2]

Pronunciation

Alternative forms

Noun

女形 (hiragana おやま, rōmaji oyama, historical hiragana をやま)

  1. male actor who plays female roles in kabuki theater: onnagata
  2. in puppetry, a female puppet
  3. (slang, possibly archaic, chiefly Kansai) a high-end prostitute

References

  1. 1 2 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
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