衍字

Japanese

Kanji in this term
衍	字
えん Hyōgai	じ Grade: 1
on'yomi	goon

Etymology

Appears to be a coinage in Japanese of Middle Chinese-derived components, as a compound of 衍 (en, “extra, superfluous”) +‎ 字 (ji, “character, letter”).

First attested in a text from 1477.^[1]

Pronunciation

(Tokyo) えんじ [èńjí] (Heiban – [0])^[2]^[3]
IPA^(key): [ẽ̞ɲ̟d͡ʑi]

Noun

衍(えん)字(じ) • (enji) ^{←えんじ (enzi)^?}

[from 1477] an extra or superfluous character or letter (added by mistake): a kind of typo

See also

脱字 (datsuji, “a missing character or letter (omitted by mistake): a kind of typo”)

References

^ “衍字”, 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
^ Kindaichi, Kyōsuke et al., editors (1997), 新明解国語辞典 [Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten] (in Japanese), Fifth edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN