大阪

See also: 大坂

Chinese

	big; great; huge big; great; huge; large; major; wide; deep; oldest; eldest; doctor	a slope; hillside
trad. (大阪)	大	阪
simp. ^#(大阪)	大	阪
alternative forms	大坂

Etymology

“Osaka”: Orthographic borrowing from Japanese 大阪 (Ōsaka, literally “large hill”).

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): Dàbǎn

(Zhuyin): ㄉㄚˋ ㄅㄢˇ
Cantonese (Jyutping): daai⁶ baan²
Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): Tāi-pán
Wu (Shanghai, Wugniu): ⁶da-pe₅

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: Dàbǎn
  - Zhuyin: ㄉㄚˋ ㄅㄢˇ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: Dàbǎn
  - Wade–Giles: Ta⁴-pan³
  - Yale: Dà-bǎn
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: Dahbaan
  - Palladius: Дабань (Dabanʹ)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /tä⁵¹ pän²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
  - Jyutping: daai⁶ baan²
  - Yale: daaih báan
  - Cantonese Pinyin: daai⁶ baan²
  - Guangdong Romanization: dai⁶ ban²
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /taːi̯²² paːn³⁵/
Southern Min
- (Hokkien)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tāi-pán
  - Tâi-lô: Tāi-pán
  - Phofsit Daibuun: daixparn
  - IPA (Xiamen): /tai²²⁻²¹ pan⁵³/
  - IPA (Quanzhou): /tai⁴¹⁻²² pan⁵⁵⁴/
  - IPA (Zhangzhou): /tai²²⁻²¹ pan⁵³/
  - IPA (Taipei): /tai³³⁻¹¹ pan⁵³/
  - IPA (Kaohsiung): /tai³³⁻²¹ pan⁴¹/
Wu
- (Northern: Shanghai)
  - Wugniu: ⁶da-pe₅
  - MiniDict: da^去 pe^去
  - Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ³da-pe₂
  - Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /da²² pe⁴⁴/

Proper noun

大阪

(～市) Osaka (the capital city of Osaka Prefecture, Japan)
(～府) Osaka (a prefecture on the island of Honshu, Japan)
an orthographic borrowing of the Japanese surname 大阪・大坂, Ōsaka; or of 大阪・大坂, Ōzaka

Noun

大阪

(Classical) great hill; great mountain; great slope
- 天水有大坂，名隴山 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
  天水有大坂，名陇山 [Classical Chinese, simp.]
  From: 《太平御覽》
  Tiānshuǐ yǒu dàbǎn, míng Lǒng Shān [Pinyin]
  Tianshui has a great hill, called Mount Long.

Japanese

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
大	阪
おお Grade: 1	さか Grade: 4
kun'yomi

Alternative spelling
大坂 (obsolete)

Compound of 大 (ō, “large, great”) +‎ 阪 (saka, “hill”). The geographical area was historically known as 小坂 (Wosaka → Osaka, literally “little hill”) and was renamed to mean literally a “large hill”. ^[1]^[2]

Originally spelled as 大坂 until the early Meiji period, possibly for some superstitious reason.

Pronunciation

(Tokyo) おおさか [òósáká] (Heiban – [0])^[3]
IPA^(key): [o̞ːsa̠ka̠]
Audio: (file)

Proper noun

大(おお)阪(さか) • (Ōsaka) ^{←おほさか (Ofosaka)^?}

a placename, especially:
1. short for 大阪府 (Ōsaka-fu): a prefecture in the 近畿 (Kinki) region of Japan facing the Seto Inland Sea
2. short for 大阪市 (Ōsaka-shi): the capital city of Osaka Prefecture, Japan
a surname

Derived terms

大(おお)阪(さか)浅(あさ)漬(づ)け (Ōsaka asazuke)
大(おお)阪(さか)切(き)り漬(づ)け (Ōsaka kirizuke)
大(おお)阪(さか)港(こう) (Ōsaka-kō)
大(おお)阪(さか)狭(さ)山(やま) (Ōsakasayama)
大(おお)阪(さか)事(じ)件(けん) (Ōsaka jiken)
大(おお)阪(さか)城(じょう) (Ōsaka-jō)
大(おお)阪(さか)証(しょう)券(けん)取(とり)引(ひき)所(じょ) (Ōsaka shōken torihikijo)
大(おお)阪(さか)鮨(ずし) (Ōsaka-zushi)
大(おお)阪(さか)相撲(ずもう) (Ōsaka-zumō)
大(おお)阪(さか)都(と) (Ōsaka-to)
大(おお)阪(さか)撫(なでし)子(こ) (Ōsaka nadeshiko)
大(おお)阪(さか)俄(にわか) (Ōsaka niwaka)
大(おお)阪(さか)場(ば)所(しょ) (Ōsaka basho)
大(おお)阪(さか)平(へい)野(や) (Ōsaka heiya)
大(おお)阪(さか)弁(べん) (Ōsaka-ben)
大(おお)阪(さか)落(らく)語(ご) (Ōsaka rakugo)
大(おお)阪(さか)-湾(わん) (Ōsaka-wan)
東(ひがし)大(おお)阪(さか) (Higashiōsaka)

Idioms

大(おお)阪(さか)の食(く)い倒(だお)れ (Ōsaka no kuidaore)

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
大	阪
おお Grade: 1	さか > ざか Grade: 4
kun'yomi

The saka changes to zaka as an instance of rendaku (連濁)..

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [o̞ːza̠ka̠]

Proper noun

大(おお)阪(ざか) • (Ōzaka) ^{←おほざか (Ofozaka)^?}

(obsolete) alternative form of 大阪 (Ōsaka, placename)
- 2021, Todōfuken zukan [Prefectures picture book], page 88:
  
  大(おお)阪(さか)府(ふ)の由(ゆ)来(らい)　古( ふる)くは「おさか」「おおざか」とよばれ、「小(お)坂(さか)」「大(おお)坂(ざか)」から明(めい)治(じ)維(い)新(しん)後(ご)に「大(おお)阪(さか)」となった
  Ōsaka-fu no yurai Furuku wa “Osaka” “Ōzaka” to yobare, “Osaka” “Ōzaka” kara Meiji Ishin-go ni “Ōsaka” to natta
  Osaka prefecture origins: Formerly called “Osaka” [with a short o] or “Ōzaka” and written <小坂> or <大坂>, it became <大阪> [Ōsaka] after the Meiji Restoration
a surname

Coordinate terms

逢(おう)坂(さか) (Ōsaka)
難(なに)波(わ) (Naniwa)

References

^ 大坂城のはじまり　『大坂城全史――歴史と構造の謎を解く』「はじめに」 - 中村博司
^ 浅井建爾『日本の地名がわかる事典』日本実業出版、1998年、→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

[1] 大坂城のはじまり　『大坂城全史――歴史と構造の謎を解く』「はじめに」 - 中村博司

[2] 浅井建爾『日本の地名がわかる事典』日本実業出版、1998年、→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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