浮き輪

Japanese
浮き輪 (ukiwa): a lifebuoy for emergency use.
浮き輪 (ukiwa): a child's swim ring for play use.
Kanji in this term
浮 輪
う(き)
Grade: S		 わ
Grade: 4
kun’yomi

Etymology

Compound of 浮き (uki, “floating”, the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of verb 浮く (uku, “to float”)) +‎ 輪 (wa, “ring”).[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

Noun

浮き輪 (hiragana うきわ, katakana ウキワ, rōmaji ukiwa)

  1. a life-buoy, a life ring, a ring buoy
  2. a swim ring
    • 1991 March 15, Takahashi, Rumiko, “ＰＡＲＴパート.５　水みずの中なかの根こん性じょう [PART.5 Spirit in the Water]”, in らんま½ [Ranma ½], volume 14 (fiction), Tokyo: Shogakukan, →ISBN, page 84:
      おい…ウキワでもダメなのか…⁉
      Oi… Ukiwa de mo dame na no ka…⁉
      Hey… You can’t float even with a swim ring…⁉

Usage notes

This is an example of a word that can be spelled with katakana to convey an informal conversational tone, as ウキワ.

The term 浮袋 (ukibukuro, literally “float bag”) might be more commonly used in reference to a life-saving emergency flotation device.

References
  1. 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
  2. 1995, 大辞泉 (Daijisen) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
  3. 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
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