天狗

Chinese

day; sky; heaven dog
simp. and trad.
(天狗)

Pronunciation


Noun

天狗

  1. (Chinese mythology) tiangou
  2. (Japanese mythology, Shinto, folklore) tengu

Derived terms

  • 天狗吃太陽天狗吃太阳
  • 天狗吃日
  • 天狗吃日頭天狗吃日头
  • 天狗吃月
  • 天狗吃月亮

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (天狗):

Japanese

天狗 (tengu): a large tengu mask.
Kanji in this term
てん
Grade: 1
く > ぐ
Hyōgaiji
on’yomi

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 天狗 (MC tʰen kəuX, “heaven + dog”). First appears in the Nihon Shoki (720 CE).

The Chinese version of tengu (Tiangou) was originally more of a dog-like spirit or falling star. As the term and idea were imported into Japanese, the character became associated with 修験道 (Shugendō, a kind of syncretism of Buddhist and native Japanese elements), and the Japanese tengu changed to resemble either a long-nosed 山伏 (yamabushi, mountain monk, a practitioner of Shugendō) with bright-red skin, or a crow.[1]

Pronunciation

Noun

天狗 (hiragana てんぐ, rōmaji tengu)

  1. (Japanese mythology, Shinto, folklore) a tengu, a mythical Japanese creature, typically birdlike and having a long nose
  2. (figuratively) a yamabushi
  3. (Noh) a tengu mask
  4. (historical) the Christian devil
  5. (figuratively, from the tengu's long nose) pridefulness; someone who is very prideful, boastful, or full of oneself (compare English look down one's nose)

Derived terms

Descendants

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. 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, →ISBN
  4. 1997, 新明解国語辞典 (Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten), Fifth Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
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