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Definition 2025

言葉

Japanese

Kanji in this term
言	葉
こと Grade: 2	は > ば Grade: 3
kun'yomi

Alternative forms

詞, 辞

The alternative forms are used almost exclusively in compounds.

Noun

言葉 ‎(hiragana ことば, romaji kotoba)

word, term
language, speech

Derived terms

合 (あ)い言葉 (ことば) ‎(aikotoba), 合言葉 (あいことば) ‎(aikotoba): a password or passphrase (spoken); a motto or slogan
東言葉 (あずまことば) ‎(azuma kotoba): any dialect of eastern Japan
遊 (あそ)ばせ言葉 (ことば) ‎(asobase kotoba): a polite mode of speaking, generally by women, that consists of suffixing verbs with the term 遊ばせ ‎(asobase, the stem of the causative form asobaseru of verb 遊ぶ asobu, “to play; to hang out”)
遊 (あそ)び言葉 (ことば) ‎(asobi kotoba): a hesitation word
天地 (あめつち)の詞 (ことば) ‎(ametsuchi no kotoba): an instructional pangram used in the early Heian period, predating the Iroha
言葉遣 (ことばづか)い ‎(kotobazukai): wording, word use

Synonyms

語 (ご) ‎(go)
言語 (げんご) ‎(gengo)
単語 (たんご) ‎(tango)

References

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

2002, Ineko Kondō; Fumi Takano; Mary E Althaus; et. al., Shogakukan Progressive Japanese-English Dictionary, Third Edition, Tokyo: Shōgakukan, ISBN 4095102535.
1998, 広辞苑 (Kōjien), Fifth Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Iwanami Shoten, ISBN 4000801112
2002, Yasuo Kitahara, 明鏡国語辞典 (Meikyō Kokugo Jiten), First Edition (in Japanese), Tokyo: Taishūkan Shoten, ISBN 4469021067

Etymology

Compound of 言 ‎(koto, “word”) +‎ 端 ‎(ha, “edge; beginning, end”).^[1]The ha changes to ba as an instance of rendaku (連濁).

The term 言 ‎(koto) was formerly the main term for word in Japanese. This term is also cognate with 事 ‎(koto, “thing, fact, event”). The ha may have been added to differentiate from 事 ‎(koto).

The 葉 spelling is an example of phonetic ateji.

Pronunciation

Kun'yomi
(Tokyo) ことば [kòtóbáꜜ] (Odaka - [3])^[2]
IPA^(key): [ko̞to̞ba̠]