落とし穴

Japanese
Kanji in this term
落 穴
お
Grade: 3		 な
Grade: 6
kun’yomi
Alternative spellings
落穴
落し穴

Etymology

Compound of 落(お)とし (otoshi, “dropping, making something fall”, the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of verb 落(お)とす (otosu, “to drop something, to make something fall”)) + 穴(あな) (ana, “hole”).[1][2][3][4] Originally referred to a kind of trap.[3]

First attested to the early 1200s.[1]

Pronunciation

Noun

落(お)とし穴(あな) • (otoshiana) 

  1. [from early 1200s] a pit trap or snare
    Synonym: 落とし (otoshi)
  2. [from late 1600s] a hole in the top of a box or other container for dropping things in
  3. [from early 1700s] (figuratively) a deliberate ploy to deceive someone into a bad situation: a deliberate pitfall
    Synonyms: 策略 (sakuryaku), 謀略 (bōryaku)
  4. [from early 1900s] (figuratively) an unknown pitfall, a non-deliberate hidden risk

References
  1. “落穴”, in 日本国語大辞典 (Nihon Kokugo Daijiten, “Nihon Kokugo Daijiten”)‎ (in Japanese), concise edition, Tōkyō: Shogakukan, 2000
  2. “落し穴”, in デジタル大辞泉 [Digital Daijisen]‎ (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, updated roughly every four months
  3. Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  4. Kindaichi, Kyōsuke et al., editors (1997), 新明解国語辞典 [Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten] (in Japanese), Fifth edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  5. NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK Publishing, →ISBN
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