パチンコ

Japanese

Etymology

Appears from the Taishō period in the early 1900s.

Compound of ぱちん (pachin, onomatopoeia for a small hard thing striking something else; compare English kaching) +‎ 子 (-ko, suffix used to form nouns, often diminutive).

A pinball-like children's game was first called ガチャンコ (gachanko) of similar derivation, with this more gambling-oriented machine becoming popular from around 1947.^[1]

Pronunciation

(Tokyo) パチンコ [pàchíńkó] (Heiban – [0])^[2]^[3]
IPA^(key): [pa̠t͡ɕĩŋko̞]

Noun

パチンコ • (pachinko)

a form of vertical pinball used for gambling, sometimes found in arcades
a slingshot, stonebow
(slang, delinquent or criminal cant) a pistol

Usage notes

The slingshot sense may be more commonly spelled in hiragana, as ぱちんこ.

Derived terms

パチンコ台(だい) (pachinkodai, “pachinko machine”)
パチンコ屋(や) (pachinko-ya, “pachinko parlor”)

Descendants

→ English: pachinko
→ Hokkien: pha-chìn-kò͘
→ Mandarin: 柏青哥 (bóqīnggē / bǎiqīnggē)

References

^ Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
^ 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), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN

[KDJ-1] Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN

[DJR-2] Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

[NHK-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), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN

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