酷薄

Japanese

Kanji in this term
酷 薄
こく
Grade: S
はく
Grade: S
on’yomi kan’on
Alternative spelling
刻薄

Etymology

Ultimately from Middle Chinese 刻薄 (MC kʰək̚ bwɑk̚). First attested in Japanese in 1439.[1]

After borrowing, the initial 刻 character in Japanese became more associated with cutting than with cruelty, leading to this character gradually being replaced with the homophonous and partially synonymous character 酷.

Pronunciation

  • (Tokyo) こくはく [kòkúhákú] (Heiban – [0])[2][3]
  • IPA(key): [ko̞kɯ̟̊ᵝha̠kɯ̟ᵝ]

Adjective

酷(こく)薄(はく) • (kokuhaku) -na (adnominal 酷(こく)薄(はく)な (kokuhaku na), adverbial 酷(こく)薄(はく)に (kokuhaku ni))

  1. [from 1439] cruel, inhumane, callous

Inflection

Noun

酷(こく)薄(はく) • (kokuhaku) 

  1. [from 1439] cruelty, inhumaneness, callousness

References

  1. “酷薄・刻薄”, in 日本国語大辞典 (Nihon Kokugo Daijiten, “Nihon Kokugo Daijiten”)‎ (in Japanese), 2nd edition, Tōkyō: Shogakukan, 2000, →ISBN
  2. 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  3. 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, →ISBN
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