四大天王

Chinese

four
big; great; huge
big; great; huge; large; major; wide; deep; oldest; eldest; doctor
 
the son of heaven; emperor
simp. and trad.
(四大天王)
天王

Etymology

Calque of Sanskrit चतुर् महाराज (catur mahārāja, literally four great kings).

Pronunciation


Noun

四大天王

  1. (Buddhism) Four Heavenly Kings, the four guardian gods who protect each of the four cardinal directions; the lokapālas
  2. (colloquial) a group of four prominent individuals
  3. (pop culture) a slang term for four of Hong Kong's most famous male Cantopop singers, namely Andy Lau, Aaron Kwok, Jacky Cheung and Leon Lai

Synonyms

Japanese

Kanji in this term

Grade: 1
だい
Grade: 1
てん
Grade: 1
おう > のう
Grade: 1
on'yomi goon

Etymology

Calque of Sanskrit चतुर्महाराज (caturmahārāja, literally four great kings).

Pronunciation

  • (Tokyo) だいてんの [shì dáítéńnóꜜò] (Nakadaka – [6])[1]
  • IPA(key): [ɕi da̠itẽ̞nːo̞ː]

Noun

()(だい)(てん)(のう) • (shi daitennōしだいてんわう (sidaiten'wau)?

  1. (Buddhism) synonym of 四天王 (shitennō): the Four Heavenly Kings

References

  1. ^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN