破瓜

Chinese
 
to break; to split; broken
to break; to split; broken; damaged; worn out
 
melon; claw; gourd
melon; claw; gourd; squash
trad. (破瓜) 破 瓜
simp. #(破瓜) 破 瓜

Etymology

The shape of the character 瓜 can be decomposed into two 八 (“eight”), thus “breaking 瓜” is used to euphemistically refer to reaching the age of 8+8 (=16) for girls, and 8×8 (=64) for men.

Pronunciation

Verb

破瓜

  1. (literary, of a girl) to reach the age of 16
  2. (literary, figurative, of a girl) to lose one's virginity
  3. (literary, of a man) to reach the age of 64

See also
  • 開瓜／开瓜 (“to take a woman's virginity”)
  • 破身 (“to have sexual intercourse for the first time”)

Japanese
Kanji in this term
破 瓜
は
Grade: 5		 か
Jinmeiyō
on’yomi kan’on

Etymology

Similar to the sense development of Chinese 破瓜 (pòguā), the shape of the character 瓜 (literally “gourd”) can be 破 (“broken”) or decomposed into two 八 (“eight”) characters, thus “breaking 瓜” is used to euphemistically refer to reaching the age of 8+8 (=16) for girls, and 8×8 (=64) for men.[1][2][3][4]

The girls' age sense is cited to the late 1600s. The men's age sense is cited to the early 1700s. The sexual sense is cited to the late 1800s.[1]

Pronunciation

Noun

破(は)瓜(か) • (haka) ←はくわ (fakwa)?

  1. the age of 16 for a girl
  2. the age of 64 for a man
  3. (by extension from the age 16 sense) the breaking of the hymen through sexual intercourse
  4. (by extension from the age 16 sense) hebephrenia, disorganized schizophrenia: a type of schizophrenia with onset typically occurring during adolescence
    Synonyms: 破瓜病 (hakabyō), 破瓜型総合失調症 (haka-kei sōgō shitchō-shō)

Derived terms

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 (1995) 大辞泉 [Daijisen] (in Japanese), First edition, Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
  3. Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →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
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