馬車馬

Japanese

Kanji in this term
馬	車	馬
ば Grade: 2	しゃ Grade: 1	うま Grade: 2
kan’on	on’yomi	kun’yomi

Etymology

Compound of 馬(ば)車(しゃ) (basha, “horse-drawn carriage”) + 馬(うま) (uma, “horse”).[1][2][3][4]

First attested in a a text from 1898.[1]

The figurative sense developed from the way that carriage horses have blinkers, so all they see is what is in front of them.[1][2][3][4]

Pronunciation

(Tokyo) ばしゃうま [bàshá úmá] (Heiban – [0])[3][4][5]
IPA^(key): [ba̠ɕa̠ ɯ̟ᵝma̠]

Noun

馬(ば)車(しゃ)馬(うま) • (basha uma)

[from 1898] (literally) a carriage horse
[from 1900] (figurative) a person absorbed in work and blind to all else

References

1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
1995, 大辞泉 (Daijisen) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
1997, 新明解国語辞典 (Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten), Fifth Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
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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