夜這い

From Old Japanese. Derived from 呼ばひ (yobai), the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “stem or continuative form”) of classical verb 呼ばふ (yobau, “to court a woman”), a combination of 呼(よ)ば (yoba), the 未(み)然(ぜん)形(けい) (mizenkei, “irrealis form”) of verb 呼(よ)ぶ (yobu, “to call”) + auxiliary verb ふ (fu, “indicating repetition or ongoing state”).^[1][2][3]

The spelling, composed of 夜 (yo, “night”) + 這い (hai, “crawling”, the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “stem or continuative form”) of the verb 這う (hau), “to crawl”), literally “night crawling”, is an example of phonetic ateji (当て字), with possibly some influence from folk etymology.

• (Tokyo) よばい [yòbáꜜì] (Nakadaka – [2])^[3]
• IPA^(key): [jo̞ba̠i]

夜(よ)這(ば)い • (yobai) ^{←よばひ (yobafi)?}

1. (historical) night-visiting, a man visiting a woman at night for sexual relations
2. (historical) a proposal of marriage, a courtship

   Synonym: 求婚 (kyūkon)

• 夜這人(よばいびと) (yobaibito, “a suitor”)
• 夜這星(よばいぼし) (yobaiboshi, “a meteor”)
• (classical) さ婚(よば)ひ(い) (sayobai, “marriage proposal”)
• 婚文(よばいぶみ) (yobaibumi, “a letter proposing marriage, a love letter”)

夜(よ)這(ば)いする • (yobai suru) ^{←よばひ (yobafi)?}suru (stem 夜(よ)這(ば)いし (yobai shi), past 夜(よ)這(ば)いした (yobai shita))

1. (of a man) to visit a woman at night to have sexual intercourse