お八つ

Japanese

Kanji in this term

Grade: 1
kun’yomi
Alternative spellings
御八
御八つ
おやつ

Etymology

Compound of (o, honorific prefix) + (ya, eight) + (tsu, nominalizing suffix).[1][2] Times in the old Japanese timekeeping system were labelled using either the animals of the Chinese zodiac or numbers ranging from 4 to 9. The time when おやつ (oyatsu) were eaten was labelled using the number 8, as 昼八つ (hiruyatsu, 8 in the daytime).

First cited to a text from 1688.[1]

Pronunciation

Noun

() • (oyatsu) 

  1. [from 1688] (historical) in the old timekeeping system, the period of roughly 2:00 until 4:00, both AM and PM
  2. [from 1703] (by extension) a snack eaten at around 3:00 pm
    Synonym: お三時 (o-sanji)
  3. (more generally) a snack between meals

See also

References

  1. Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典(新装版) [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
  2. Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  3. NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK Publishing, →ISBN
  4. Kindaichi, Kyōsuke et al., editors (1997), 新明解国語辞典 [Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten] (in Japanese), Fifth edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN

Further reading

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