Chinese

Noun

七夕

1. the Qixi Festival, the Chinese Valentine's Day, which falls on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month

Descendants

Japanese

Etymology 1

七夕: Tanabata in Sendai, 2005

Origins somewhat obscure.

The latter bata portion is generally accepted to be from 機 ‎(hata, “a loom”). The hata changes to bata due to rendaku (連濁).

The former tana portion may be from 棚 ‎(tana, “a shelf, or a board placed lengthwise in a bridge”), in reference to an ancient ritual whereby a maiden would weave a special cloth on a hata in order to secure a bountiful harvest, as an offering for a god coming across a body of water via a tana. A related theory states that tana is instead an alteration of 種 ‎(tane, “seed”). Yet another theory states that tana is an alteration of 手 ‎(ta, “hand”, unbound Old Japanese form) + な ‎(na, Old Japanese possessive particle superseded by no).^[1]

The common spelling of 七夕 is an example of jukujikun, since the festival is held on the seventh night of the seventh month of the lunar calendar, now generally observed on 7 July.

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi (irregular)
• たなばた (Heiban)^[2]
• IPA^(key): [ta̠na̠ba̠ta̠]

Alternative forms

• 棚機, 棚幡, 織女

Noun

七夕 ‎(hiragana たなばた, romaji tanabata)

1. a type of loom (the original meaning)
2. a type of weaving
3. by extension, a weaver
4. (figuratively) any extremely rare visit, or the person so visiting

Proper noun

七夕 ‎(hiragana たなばた, romaji Tanabata)

1. the Tanabata Japanese star festival, observed on 7 July

Synonyms

• 七夕祭り (たなばたまつり, ​Tanabata matsuri)
• 星祭り (ほしまつり, ​Hoshi matsuri)
• 七日盆 (なぬかぼん, ​Nanuka Bon)

See also

• List of festivals in Japan on Wiktionary
• List of festivals in Japan on Wikipedia

Etymology 2

From Middle Chinese compound 七夕 ‎(*tsit *ziɛk, literally “seventh evening”). Compare modern Chinese 七夕 ‎(qīxī).

Pronunciation

• On'yomi
• しち​せき (Nakadaka)^[2]
• IPA^(key): [ɕit͡ɕise̞ki]

Proper noun

七夕 ‎(hiragana しちせき, romaji Shichiseki)

1. the Tanabata Japanese star festival, observed on 7 July
2. the Chinese Qīxī Festival, also sometimes referred to as the Double Seventh Festival

References

1. ↑ 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
2. 1 2 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13905-9

Korean

Noun

七夕 • ‎(chilseok) ‎(hangeul 칠석)

1. Hanja form^? of 칠석, “Qixi”.

Vietnamese

Noun

七夕

1. Hán tự form of Thất Tịch, “Qixi”