猿公

Japanese

Kanji in this term
猿	公
えて Grade: S	こう Grade: 2
irregular	kan'on

Alternative spellings
エテ公得手公

Etymology

Compound of 得(え)手(て) (ete, euphemistic term for 猿(さる) (saru, “monkey”) to avoid the homophone 去(さ)る (saru, “to leave; to depart”)) + 公(こう) (-kō, anthropomorphizing/familiarizing suffix used in animal names; compare ハチ公 (Hachikō)).^[1]

Pronunciation

(Tokyo) えてこー [ètékóꜜò] (Nakadaka – [3])^[2]
IPA^(key): [e̞te̞ko̞ː]

Noun

猿(えて)公(こう) • (etekō)

monkey, especially anthropomorphized

See also

得手(えて) (ete)
得手吉(えてきち) (etekichi)

References

^ “猿公”, in 日本国語大辞典 [Nihon Kokugo Daijiten]‎^[1] (in Japanese), concise edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, 2006
^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN