"万葉仮名" meaning in Japanese

See 万葉仮名 in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: [mã̠ɰ̃jo̞ːɡa̠na̠] Forms: 万葉仮名 [canonical] (ruby: 万(まん), 葉(よう), 仮(が), 名(な)), man'yōgana [romanization], man'efugana [romanization], まんえふがな [hiragana, historical]
Etymology: Compound of 万葉 (man'yō, “ten thousand leaves”, from the title of the Old Japanese poetry anthology, Man'yōshū, “Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves”) + 仮名 (kana, “phonetic character”, literally “borrowed characters” or “borrowed names”, from the way the characters were borrowed for their phonetic values). The kana changes to gana as an instance of rendaku (連濁). This kind of phonetic re-use of Chinese characters was broadly popularized by the Man'yōshū. Chinese used phonetically to spell Japanese occurs even earlier in the historical record, such as on the Inariyama Sword, dated to 471 or 531. Etymology templates: {{cog|ojp|-}} Old Japanese, {{compound|ja|万葉|仮名|pos1=from the title of the Old Japanese poetry anthology, Man'yōshū, “Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves”|pos2=literally “borrowed characters” or “borrowed names”, from the way the characters were borrowed for their phonetic values|sort=まんようがな|t1=ten thousand leaves|t2=phonetic character|tr1=man'yō|tr2=kana}} 万葉 (man'yō, “ten thousand leaves”, from the title of the Old Japanese poetry anthology, Man'yōshū, “Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves”) + 仮名 (kana, “phonetic character”, literally “borrowed characters” or “borrowed names”, from the way the characters were borrowed for their phonetic values), {{rendaku2|kana|gana|sort=まんようがな}} The kana changes to gana as an instance of rendaku (連濁). Head templates: {{ja-noun|まんようがな|hhira=まんえふがな}} 万(まん)葉(よう)仮(が)名(な) • (man'yōgana) ^(←まんえふがな (man'efugana)?)
  1. Man'yōgana, the early Japanese syllabary using Chinese characters to represent Japanese sounds: the predecessor of hiragana and katakana Wikipedia link: Daijirin, Man'yōgana, ja:万葉仮名 Related terms: 男手 (otokode) (ruby: 男手(おとこで)), 女手 (onnade) (ruby: 女手(おんなで)), 真名 (mana), 真字 (mana), 真字 (shinji) (ruby: 真字(しんじ))
    Sense id: en-万葉仮名-ja-noun-PPXIEqX5 Categories (other): Japanese entries with incorrect language header, Japanese links with redundant alt parameters, Japanese links with redundant wikilinks, Japanese retronyms, Japanese terms with 4 kanji, Japanese terms with Heiban pitch accent (Tōkyō), Japanese terms with Nakadaka pitch accent (Tōkyō), Japanese terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys, Japanese terms with redundant sortkeys, Japanese terms with rendaku, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Writing systems

Inflected forms

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "ojp",
        "2": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Old Japanese",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "ja",
        "2": "万葉",
        "3": "仮名",
        "pos1": "from the title of the Old Japanese poetry anthology, Man'yōshū, “Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves”",
        "pos2": "literally “borrowed characters” or “borrowed names”, from the way the characters were borrowed for their phonetic values",
        "sort": "まんようがな",
        "t1": "ten thousand leaves",
        "t2": "phonetic character",
        "tr1": "man'yō",
        "tr2": "kana"
      },
      "expansion": "万葉 (man'yō, “ten thousand leaves”, from the title of the Old Japanese poetry anthology, Man'yōshū, “Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves”) + 仮名 (kana, “phonetic character”, literally “borrowed characters” or “borrowed names”, from the way the characters were borrowed for their phonetic values)",
      "name": "compound"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "kana",
        "2": "gana",
        "sort": "まんようがな"
      },
      "expansion": "The kana changes to gana as an instance of rendaku (連濁).",
      "name": "rendaku2"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Compound of 万葉 (man'yō, “ten thousand leaves”, from the title of the Old Japanese poetry anthology, Man'yōshū, “Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves”) + 仮名 (kana, “phonetic character”, literally “borrowed characters” or “borrowed names”, from the way the characters were borrowed for their phonetic values). The kana changes to gana as an instance of rendaku (連濁).\nThis kind of phonetic re-use of Chinese characters was broadly popularized by the Man'yōshū. Chinese used phonetically to spell Japanese occurs even earlier in the historical record, such as on the Inariyama Sword, dated to 471 or 531.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "万葉仮名",
      "ruby": [
        [
          "万",
          "まん"
        ],
        [
          "葉",
          "よう"
        ],
        [
          "仮",
          "が"
        ],
        [
          "名",
          "な"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "canonical"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "man'yōgana",
      "tags": [
        "romanization"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "man'efugana",
      "tags": [
        "romanization"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "まんえふがな",
      "roman": "man'efugana",
      "tags": [
        "hiragana",
        "historical"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "まんようがな",
        "hhira": "まんえふがな"
      },
      "expansion": "万(まん)葉(よう)仮(が)名(な) • (man'yōgana) ^(←まんえふがな (man'efugana)?)",
      "name": "ja-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "Japanese",
  "lang_code": "ja",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Japanese entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Japanese links with redundant alt parameters",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Japanese links with redundant wikilinks",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Japanese retronyms",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Japanese terms with 4 kanji",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Japanese terms with Heiban pitch accent (Tōkyō)",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Japanese terms with Nakadaka pitch accent (Tōkyō)",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Japanese terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Japanese terms with redundant sortkeys",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Japanese terms with rendaku",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "ja",
          "name": "Writing systems",
          "orig": "ja:Writing systems",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Man'yōgana, the early Japanese syllabary using Chinese characters to represent Japanese sounds: the predecessor of hiragana and katakana"
      ],
      "id": "en-万葉仮名-ja-noun-PPXIEqX5",
      "links": [
        [
          "Man'yōgana",
          "man'yōgana"
        ],
        [
          "syllabary",
          "syllabary"
        ],
        [
          "hiragana",
          "hiragana"
        ],
        [
          "katakana",
          "katakana"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "roman": "otokode",
          "ruby": [
            [
              "男手",
              "おとこで"
            ]
          ],
          "word": "男手"
        },
        {
          "roman": "onnade",
          "ruby": [
            [
              "女手",
              "おんなで"
            ]
          ],
          "word": "女手"
        },
        {
          "roman": "mana",
          "word": "真名"
        },
        {
          "roman": "mana",
          "word": "真字"
        },
        {
          "roman": "shinji",
          "ruby": [
            [
              "真字",
              "しんじ"
            ]
          ],
          "word": "真字"
        }
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Daijirin",
        "Man'yōgana",
        "ja:万葉仮名"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "other": "まんよーがな"
    },
    {
      "other": "まんよーがな"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "[mã̠ɰ̃jo̞ːɡa̠na̠]"
    }
  ],
  "word": "万葉仮名"
}

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "ojp",
        "2": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Old Japanese",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "ja",
        "2": "万葉",
        "3": "仮名",
        "pos1": "from the title of the Old Japanese poetry anthology, Man'yōshū, “Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves”",
        "pos2": "literally “borrowed characters” or “borrowed names”, from the way the characters were borrowed for their phonetic values",
        "sort": "まんようがな",
        "t1": "ten thousand leaves",
        "t2": "phonetic character",
        "tr1": "man'yō",
        "tr2": "kana"
      },
      "expansion": "万葉 (man'yō, “ten thousand leaves”, from the title of the Old Japanese poetry anthology, Man'yōshū, “Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves”) + 仮名 (kana, “phonetic character”, literally “borrowed characters” or “borrowed names”, from the way the characters were borrowed for their phonetic values)",
      "name": "compound"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "kana",
        "2": "gana",
        "sort": "まんようがな"
      },
      "expansion": "The kana changes to gana as an instance of rendaku (連濁).",
      "name": "rendaku2"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Compound of 万葉 (man'yō, “ten thousand leaves”, from the title of the Old Japanese poetry anthology, Man'yōshū, “Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves”) + 仮名 (kana, “phonetic character”, literally “borrowed characters” or “borrowed names”, from the way the characters were borrowed for their phonetic values). The kana changes to gana as an instance of rendaku (連濁).\nThis kind of phonetic re-use of Chinese characters was broadly popularized by the Man'yōshū. Chinese used phonetically to spell Japanese occurs even earlier in the historical record, such as on the Inariyama Sword, dated to 471 or 531.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "万葉仮名",
      "ruby": [
        [
          "万",
          "まん"
        ],
        [
          "葉",
          "よう"
        ],
        [
          "仮",
          "が"
        ],
        [
          "名",
          "な"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "canonical"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "man'yōgana",
      "tags": [
        "romanization"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "man'efugana",
      "tags": [
        "romanization"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "まんえふがな",
      "roman": "man'efugana",
      "tags": [
        "hiragana",
        "historical"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "まんようがな",
        "hhira": "まんえふがな"
      },
      "expansion": "万(まん)葉(よう)仮(が)名(な) • (man'yōgana) ^(←まんえふがな (man'efugana)?)",
      "name": "ja-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "Japanese",
  "lang_code": "ja",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "roman": "otokode",
      "ruby": [
        [
          "男手",
          "おとこで"
        ]
      ],
      "word": "男手"
    },
    {
      "roman": "onnade",
      "ruby": [
        [
          "女手",
          "おんなで"
        ]
      ],
      "word": "女手"
    },
    {
      "roman": "mana",
      "word": "真名"
    },
    {
      "roman": "mana",
      "word": "真字"
    },
    {
      "roman": "shinji",
      "ruby": [
        [
          "真字",
          "しんじ"
        ]
      ],
      "word": "真字"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "Japanese compound terms",
        "Japanese entries with incorrect language header",
        "Japanese lemmas",
        "Japanese links with redundant alt parameters",
        "Japanese links with redundant wikilinks",
        "Japanese nouns",
        "Japanese retronyms",
        "Japanese terms spelled with fifth grade kanji",
        "Japanese terms spelled with first grade kanji",
        "Japanese terms spelled with second grade kanji",
        "Japanese terms spelled with third grade kanji",
        "Japanese terms with 4 kanji",
        "Japanese terms with Heiban pitch accent (Tōkyō)",
        "Japanese terms with IPA pronunciation",
        "Japanese terms with Nakadaka pitch accent (Tōkyō)",
        "Japanese terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
        "Japanese terms with redundant sortkeys",
        "Japanese terms with rendaku",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "ja:Writing systems"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Man'yōgana, the early Japanese syllabary using Chinese characters to represent Japanese sounds: the predecessor of hiragana and katakana"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
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          "man'yōgana"
        ],
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          "syllabary"
        ],
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          "hiragana"
        ],
        [
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        ]
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Daijirin",
        "Man'yōgana",
        "ja:万葉仮名"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "other": "まんよーがな"
    },
    {
      "other": "まんよーがな"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "[mã̠ɰ̃jo̞ːɡa̠na̠]"
    }
  ],
  "word": "万葉仮名"
}

Download raw JSONL data for 万葉仮名 meaning in Japanese (3.9kB)

{
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  "msg": "HTML tag <span> not properly closed",
  "path": [
    "万葉仮名"
  ],
  "section": "Japanese",
  "subsection": "noun",
  "title": "万葉仮名",
  "trace": "started on line 2, detected on line 2"
}

{
  "called_from": "parser/1336",
  "msg": "no corresponding start tag found for </span>",
  "path": [
    "万葉仮名"
  ],
  "section": "Japanese",
  "subsection": "noun",
  "title": "万葉仮名",
  "trace": ""
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable Japanese dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-08-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-07-20 using wiktextract (ed078bd and 3c020d2). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.