お腹

Japanese
Kanji in this term
腹
なか
Grade: 6
Irregular

Etymology 1

Compound of 御 (o-, honorific prefix) +‎ 中 (naka, “insides; innards, stomach”). Originally coined as a deliberately indirect 女房詞 (nyōbō kotoba, “woman's word”) for 腹 (hara, “belly, gut”).[1][2]

The use of the 腹 character to spell 中 (naka) appears to be a relatively recent shift; many dictionaries still list 御中 or お中 as the standard spelling for this term,[1][2][3][4] but usage trends clearly show that this お腹 spelling is now more common for the belly senses.

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Noun

お腹 (hiragana おなか, rōmaji onaka)

  1. belly, tummy, stomach, abdomen
Derived terms
Derived terms
  • お腹 (なか)が空 (す)く (o-naka ga suku): “one's belly becomes empty” → to become hungry
  • お腹 (なか)を壊 (こわ)す (o-naka o kowasu): “to break one's belly” → to become sick to one's stomach, to become ill in one's gut, such as diarrhea
  • お腹 (なか)を痛 (いた)める (o-naka o itameru): “to hurt one's belly” → to give birth

Etymology 2
Kanji in this term
腹
はら
Grade: 6
kun’yomi

Compound of 御 (o-, honorific prefix) +‎ 腹 (hara, “stomach, belly”).[1]

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): [o̞ha̠ɾa̠]

Noun

お腹 (hiragana おはら, rōmaji ohara)

  1. (archaic, possibly obsolete, honorific) a person used as a form of mildly honorific indirect reference to someone
  2. (uncommon) one's mother, specifically one's birth mother
  3. (uncommon, honorific) someone's belly

References
  1. 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
  2. 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  3. 1995, 大辞泉 (Daijisen) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
  4. 1997, 新明解国語辞典 (Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten), Fifth Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  5. 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, →ISBN
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