Translingual

Han character

丼 (radical 3 丶+4, 5 strokes, cangjie input 廿廿戈 (TTI), four-corner 5500₀, composition ⿴井丶)

References

• KangXi: page 81, character 1
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 101
• Dae Jaweon: page 164, character 1
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 1, page 45, character 1
• Unihan data for U+4E3C

Chinese

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

Noun

丼

1. The sound of tossing something into a well.^[1]

Etymology 2

References

1. ↑ 《集韻》：「丼：投物井中聲。」

Japanese

Kanji

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

Readings

• Goon: しょう (shō), (historical) しやう (shau)
• Kan’on: せい (sei)
• Kun: どん (don), どんぶり (donburi)

Etymology 1

丼 (donburi): a large donburi bowl.

丼 (donburi, don): a serving of gyūdon or beef donburi.

丼 (donburi, don): a serving of tendon or tempura donburi.

丼 (donburi, don): a serving of oyakodon or chicken and egg donburi.

Multiple possible derivations.

• During the Edo period, restaurants specializing in large portions were called 慳貪屋 ‎(kendon'ya), from 慳貪 ‎(kendon, “greedy”, in reference to “very hungry”) + 屋 ‎(ya, “house, store, restaurant”). The serving bowls were called 慳貪振り鉢 ‎(kendon-buri-bachi), literally “greedy” + “in that fashion” + “bowl”. The ken portion was elided, producing donburi-bachi, and then the -hachi was dropped to produce donburi.
• Alternatively, and perhaps more likely, donburi in reference to “a bowl filled with large amount of food” may be cognate with どんぶり ‎(donburi), an onomatopoeia of something heavy plunking into deep water, or something big and soft plopping down, related to onomatopoeia どぶり ‎(doburi), どぶん ‎(dobun), どんぶ ‎(donbu), and どん ‎(don), all of generally similar meanings. The food starts with a large portion of rice, also referred to as 丼飯 ‎(donburi meshi), which could be analyzed as “plopped-down rice”.

Donburi is also used to refer to something “rough, approximate, not finely worked”, as in the phrase 丼勘定 ‎(donburi kanjō, “rough approximation, loose estimate”). This is consistent with a derivation from the onomatopoeia, but not from the restaurant terms.

The kanji spelling shows 井 ‎(“a well”) with a dot in the center, possibly indicating something thrown into the well. This could suggest that the Middle Chinese reading /təm^X/ may similarly derive from onomatopoeia.

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• (Tokyo) どんぶり [dòńbúrí] (Heiban - [0])^[1]
• IPA^(key): [dõ̞mbɯᵝɾi]

Noun

丼 ‎(hiragana どんぶり, romaji donburi)

1. a simple large bowl for serving food
2. a one-bowl meal served in a donburi bowl, consisting of a large portion of rice, covered in a meat or fish

Usage notes

To disambiguate, speakers may refer more specifically to donburibachi for the bowl, and donburi mono for the food.

English-language sources often refer to the food as similar to stew served over rice. Note, however, that stews consist of meat, fish, and/or vegetables cooked in a liquid and served with the sauce, whereas donburi toppings may be relatively dry, as in tempura donburi or beef donburi, or even uncooked, as in tekkadon (tuna sashimi donburi).

Synonyms

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Abbreviation of donburi above.^[2][1]

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• (Tokyo) ど​ん [dóꜜǹ] (Atamadaka - [1])^[1]
• IPA^(key): [dõ̞ɴ]
• When used as a suffix, the resulting term has a 平板型 ‎(heiban-gata, “flat type”) or type 0 pitch accent pattern.

Noun

丼 ‎(hiragana どん, romaji don)

1. donburi: a one-bowl meal consisting of a large portion of rice, covered in a meat or fish

Usage notes

Seldom used as an independent noun. More commonly encountered as a suffix.

Suffix

丼 ‎(hiragana どん, romaji -don)

1. donburi: a one-bowl meal consisting of a large portion of rice, covered in a meat or fish

Derived terms

References

1. 1 2 3 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13905-9
2. ↑ 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan

Korean

Hanja

丼 • ‎(jeong) (hangeul 정, McCune-Reischauer chŏng)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.