大根役者

Japanese
Kanji in this term
大 根 役 者
だい
Grade: 1		 こん
Grade: 3		 やく
Grade: 3		 しゃ
Grade: 3
on’yomi

Etymology

Compound of 大根 (daikon, “Chinese radish”) +‎ 役者 (yakusha, “actor”).[1][2]

Derivation unknown. Possibly from the way that daikon as a food may be considered unsophisticated and crude; from the way that daikon are white (白い ​shiroi), alluding to the term 素人 (shirōto, “amateur; hack”); or from a well-known witticism that no matter how much daikon one eats, it never causes food poisoning / is worth notice (hinging upon the verb 当たる (​ataru), meaning either “to hit the mark” / “to be worth notice”, or “to cause food poisoning”).[2]

Pronunciation
  • On’yomi
    • (Tokyo) だいこんや​くしゃ [dàíkóń yḁꜜkùshà] (Nakadaka – [5])[2][3]
    • IPA(key): [da̠ikõ̞ɰ̃ ja̠kɯ̟̊ᵝɕa̠]

Noun

大根役者 (hiragana だいこんやくしゃ, rōmaji daikon yakusha)

  1. (slang) a bad actor, a wooden actor, a ham actor

References
  1. 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
  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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