玉の緒

Literally “string of jewels” or “cord of beads”, likely in reference as jewellery or prayer beads.

The figurative sense is an extension of 玉 (tama) with cognate/homophone 魂 (tama, “soul, spirit”).

• (Tokyo) たまの​お [tàmá nóꜜ ò] (Nakadaka – [3])[1]
• IPA^(key): [ta̠ma̠ no̞ o̞]

玉(たま)の緒(お) • (tama no o) ^{←たまのを (tama no wo)?}

1. a beaded string, especially a jewelled necklace
2. (idiomatic, by extension of “connecting more beads into a string”) the shortness in space of something
3. (figurative) the (thread of) life, one’s own existence

   Synonyms: 命 (inochi), 生命 (seimei)

4. (historical) during the Edo period, Buddhist mala beads used in Buddha worship
5. Synonym of 見せばや (misebaya): Hylotelephium sieboldii, a species of stonecrop

For quotations using this term, see Citations:玉の緒.

• 玉(たま)の緒(お)の (tama no o no, pillow word)
• 玉(たま)の緒(お)繰分(くりわけ) (Tama-no-o Kuriwake)
• 玉(たま)の緒(お)柳(やなぎ) (tama-no-o yanagi)

• 息(いき)の緒(お) (iki no o)
• 心(こころ)の緒(お) (kokoro no o)