''Baka'' (, in

hiragana is a Japanese syllabary, part of the Japanese writing system, along with ''katakana'' as well as ''kanji''. It is a phonetic lettering system. The word ''hiragana'' literally means "flowing" or "simple" kana ("simple" originally as contrast ...

, or in

katakana is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji and in some cases the Latin script (known as rōmaji). The word ''katakana'' means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana characters are derived f ...

) means "fool", or (as an adjectival noun) "foolish" and is the most frequently used

pejorative A pejorative or slur is a word or grammatical form expressing a negative or a disrespectful connotation, a low opinion, or a lack of respect toward someone or something. It is also used to express criticism, hostility, or disregard. Sometimes, a ...

term in the

Japanese language is spoken natively by about 128 million people, primarily by Japanese people and primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language. Japanese belongs to the Japonic or Japanese- Ryukyuan language family. There have been ...

. This word ''baka'' has a long history, an uncertain etymology (possibly from

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

Classical Chinese Classical Chinese, also known as Literary Chinese (古文 ''gǔwén'' "ancient text", or 文言 ''wényán'' "text speak", meaning "literary language/speech"; modern vernacular: 文言文 ''wényánwén'' "text speak text", meaning "literar ...

), and linguistic complexities.

Word

100px, ''Baka'' written in kanji as The modern

Japanese writing system The modern Japanese writing system uses a combination of logographic kanji, which are adopted Chinese characters, and syllabic kana. Kana itself consists of a pair of syllabaries: hiragana, used primarily for native or naturalised Japanese ...

transcribes the insult ''baka'' as in

, in

, or ( "horse deer") in ''

ateji In modern Japanese, principally refers to kanji used to phonetically represent native or borrowed words with less regard to the underlying meaning of the characters. This is similar to in Old Japanese. Conversely, also refers to kanji use ...

'' phonetic

kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...

transcription; earlier ''ateji'' renderings included , , , or .

History

The first written usages of ''baka'' were during the

Nanboku-chō period The Nanboku-chō period (南北朝時代, ''Nanboku-chō jidai'', "North and South court period", also known as the Northern and Southern Courts period), spanning from 1336 to 1392, was a period that occurred during the formative years of the Mur ...

(1336–1392), when the "Northern and Southern Courts" battled. In the earliest example, the ''

Taiheiki The (Chronicle of Great Peace) is a Japanese historical epic (see '' gunki monogatari'') written in the late 14th century and covers the period from 1319 to 1367. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Taiheiki''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', pp. 923� ...

'' historical epic records ''bakamono'' () being used as an insult in 1342. The

Ashikaga Ashikaga (足利) may refer to: * Ashikaga clan (足利氏 ''Ashikaga-shi''), a Japanese samurai clan descended from the Minamoto clan; and that formed the basis of the eponymous shogunate ** Ashikaga shogunate (足利幕府 ''Ashikaga bakufu''), a ...

commander Toki Yoritō () refuses to pay obeisance to retired

Emperor Kōgon was the first of the Emperors of Northern Court during the Period of the Northern and Southern Courts in Japan. His reign spanned the years from 1331 through 1333. Genealogy Before his ascension to the Nanboku-chō throne, his personal name (h ...

( 1313–1364), "Yoritō, probably inebriated, loudly demands to know what kind of fool (''bakamono'') has the temerity to order him to dismount." According to Carr, " Shinmura

zuru Zuru is a Local Government Area in Kebbi State, Nigeria. Its headquarters is in the town of Zuru. It is also the Headquarters of Zuru Emirate. The Emirate comprises four local government areas, namely: Wasagu/Danko, Fakai, Sakaba and Zuru. I ...

found that the original editions (fourteenth century) of the ''Taiheiki'' had ''baka'' written ;

hile Hile ( ne, हिले) is a hill town located in the Eastern Part of Nepal, 13 km north of the regional center of Dhankuta Bazar. At an elevation of 1948 meters, it is the main route to other hilly districts like Bhojpur and Sankhuwasab ...

later movable-type editions (c. 1600) had the characters ." A

Bunmei was a after '' Ōnin'' and before ''Chōkyō''. This period spanned from April 1469 through July 1487.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Bunmei''" i ''Japan encyclopedia'', p. 89 n.b., Louis-Frédéric is pseudonym of Louis-Frédéric Nussba ...

-era (1469–1487) edition of the ''

Setsuyōshū The was a popular Muromachi period Japanese dictionary collated in ''iroha'' order and subdivided into semantic categories. The title word ''setsuyō'' means "reduce usage; economize" and alludes to the ''Lunyu'' (compare the '' Kagakushū''). "Co ...

'' dictionary notes ''baka'' , which was also written (lit. "mother bride"), (lit. "horse bride"), or (lit. "break family"), means ''rōzeki'' "disorder; confusion". Many classical Japanese texts used ''baka''. For instance, the (c. 1616) ''

Kōyō Gunkan The is a record of the military exploits of the Takeda family, compiled largely by the Takeda vassal Kōsaka Danjō Masanobu, and completed in 1616 by Obata Kagenori. It provides some of the most detailed descriptions and statistics of warf ...

'' military chronicle transcribed ''baka'' as .

Ihara Saikaku was a Japanese poet and creator of the " floating world" genre of Japanese prose (''ukiyo-zōshi''). Born as Hirayama Tōgo (平山藤五), the son of a wealthy merchant in Osaka, he first studied haikai poetry under Matsunaga Teitoku and later ...

's (1682) ''Kōshoku Ichidai Otoko'' (; "The Life of an Amorous Man"), which was a classic of the Ukiyozōshi genre, wrote ''baka'' with the modern kanji .

Etymologies

Although the origins of ''baka'' are uncertain, Japanese scholars have proposed various etymologies and

folk etymologies Folk etymology (also known as popular etymology, analogical reformation, reanalysis, morphological reanalysis or etymological reinterpretation) is a change in a word or phrase resulting from the replacement of an unfamiliar form by a more famili ...

. The two most widely cited are a

idiom and a

loanword A loanword (also loan word or loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language. This is in contrast to cognates, which are words in two or more languages that are similar because t ...

from

. First, the oldest hypothesis suggests that ''baka'' originated as a Chinese literary "allusion to a historical fool", the

Qin Dynasty The Qin dynasty ( ; zh, c=秦朝, p=Qín cháo, w=), or Ch'in dynasty in Wade–Giles romanization ( zh, c=, p=, w=Ch'in ch'ao), was the first dynasty of Imperial China. Named for its heartland in Qin state (modern Gansu and Shaanxi), ...

traitor

Zhao Gao Zhao Gao (died 207 BC) was a Chinese politician and calligrapher. He was an official of the Qin dynasty of China. Allegedly a eunuch, he served as a close aide to all three rulers of the Qin dynasty – Qin Shi Huang, Qin Er Shi and Ziying � ...

( 207 BCE) from the ''

Records of the Grand Historian ''Records of the Grand Historian'', also known by its Chinese name ''Shiji'', is a monumental history of China that is the first of China's 24 dynastic histories. The ''Records'' was written in the early 1st century by the ancient Chinese his ...

''. This etymology first appears in the (c. 1548) ''Unbo Irohashū'' () dictionary, which glosses ''baka'' as meaning "point at a deer and say horse" (指鹿曰馬). Namely, the Chinese idiom '' zhǐlù-wéimǎ'' (; lit. "point at a deer and call it a horse", Japanese ''Shika o Sashite Uma to Nasu'') meaning "deliberate misrepresentation for ulterior purposes". Zhao was an infamous minister who served the first emperor

Qin Shi Huang Qin Shi Huang (, ; 259–210 BC) was the founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of a unified China. Rather than maintain the title of " king" ( ''wáng'') borne by the previous Shang and Zhou rulers, he ruled as the First Empero ...

(r. 246–221 BCE) and forced the second

Qin Er Shi Qin Er Shi (; (230–October 207 BCE) was the second emperor of the Qin dynasty from 210 to 207 BCE. The son of Qin Shi Huang, he was born as Ying Huhai. He was put on the throne by Li Si and Zhao Gao, circumventing Fusu, Ying's brother a ...

(r. 210–207 BCE) to commit suicide.

Zhao Gao was contemplating treason but was afraid the other officials would not heed his commands, so he decided to test them first. He brought a deer and presented it to the Second Emperor but called it a horse. The Second Emperor laughed and said, "Is the chancellor perhaps mistaken, calling a deer a horse?" Then the emperor questioned those around him. Some remained silent, while some, hoping to ingratiate themselves with Zhao Gao, said it was a horse, and others said it was a deer. Zhao Gao secretly arranged for all those who said it was a deer to be brought before the law. Thereafter the officials were all terrified of Zhao Gao.

The Japanese idiom first appears in the 11th-century novel '' The Tale of Genji''.

Kokiden flew into a rage. "A man out of favor with His Majesty is expected to have trouble feeding himself. And here he is living in a fine stylish house and saying awful things about all of us. No doubt the grovelers around him are assuring him that a deer is a horse.

Second, the most linguistically sound etymology is that ''baka'' derives from a

word meaning "fool". According to the Japanese linguist and lexicographer

Shinmura Izuru was a Japanese linguist and essayist. He is best known for his many contributions to Japanese linguistics and lexicography. In honor of him, the Shinmura Izuru Prize is annually awarded for contributions to linguistics. Background Shinmura ...

,, p. the

Edo-period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteri ...

scholar Amano Sadakage (; 1663–1733) originally suggested that

Japanese Buddhist Buddhism has been practiced in Japan since about the 6th century CE. Japanese Buddhism () created many new Buddhist schools, and some schools are original to Japan and some are derived from Chinese Buddhist schools. Japanese Buddhism has had ...

priests coined the word ''baka'' from

. Modern reference works give two possible Sanskrit sources for the word, ''moha'' (transcribed 慕何) "foolish" and ''mahallaka'' (摩訶羅) "stupid". Sanskrit ''moha'' () means "bewilderment, loss of consciousness, delusion, folly" and comes from the root ''muh'' meaning "bewildered, perplexed, confused". Sanskrit ''mahallaka'' means "senile, feeble minded, stupid, decrepit" and comes from ''mūrkha'' (), meaning "dull, stupid, foolish, inexperienced; fool". Other proposed etymologies for ''baka'' are less reliable. Two Edo-period dictionaries proposed that ''baka'' derived from: ''ōmaka'' "generous; unsparing" (''Rigen Shūran'' ) or ''bokeru'' "grow senile; dote; become feeble-minded" (''Matsuya Hikki'' ).

Related words

The same 馬鹿 "horse deer" characters that transcribe ''baka'' are also used for names in Chinese zoological

nomenclature Nomenclature (, ) is a system of names or terms, or the rules for forming these terms in a particular field of arts or sciences. The principles of naming vary from the relatively informal conventions of everyday speech to the internationally ag ...

and Japanese mythology. In Chinese, ''mǎlù'' () refers to the

red deer The red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or hart, and a female is called a hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Iran, and parts of we ...

(''Cervus elaphus''), Japanese ''akashika'' . ''Mumashika'' is a rare alternate Japanese reading of that names a

yōkai are a class of supernatural entities and spirits in Japanese folklore. The word is composed of the kanji for "attractive; calamity" and "apparition; mystery; suspicious." are also referred to as , or . Despite often being translated as suc ...

demon with a horse's head and deer's body. The c. 1832 ''Hyakki Yagyō Emaki'' (; "

Hyakki Yagyō ''Hyakki Yagyō'' (, "Night Parade of One Hundred Demons"), also transliterated ''Hyakki Yakō'', is an idiom in Japanese folklore. Sometimes an orderly procession, other times a riot, it refers to a parade of thousands of supernatural creature ...

emakimono or is an illustrated horizontal narration system of painted handscrolls that dates back to Nara-period (710–794 CE) Japan. Initially copying their much older Chinese counterparts in style, during the succeeding Heian (794–1185) and Ka ...

") depicts it with one eye, a horse's mouth and ears, and deer horn and hooves.

Meanings

Based on semantic analyses of ''baka'' entries in

Japanese dictionaries have a history that began over 1300 years ago when Japanese Buddhist priests, who wanted to understand Chinese sutras, adapted Chinese character dictionaries. Present-day Japanese lexicographers are exploring computerized editing and electronic ...

and thesauruses, the lexicographer Michael Carr differentiates eight interrelated meanings. Three basic "fool; foolish" meanings distinguish ''baka''¹ "ass; jerk; fool", ''baka''² "ament; idiot; imbecile; fool" ( ament is a rare word for "congenitally mentally deficient"), and ''baka''³ "blockhead; dullard; dimwit; simpleton; dolt; fool". These are found in many frequently-used Japanese expressions. Some more insulting

lexemes A lexeme () is a unit of lexical meaning that underlies a set of words that are related through inflection. It is a basic abstract unit of meaning, a unit of morphological analysis in linguistics that roughly corresponds to a set of forms taken ...

are ''bakamono'' "stupid,fool,idiot", ''ōbaka'' "big fool damned idiot", and ''baka-yarō'' "stupid jerk, ass, asshole, dumbass". Some compounds are '' baka yoke'' "foolproof; idiot-proof", ''baka warai'' "foolish/horse laugh" and ''baka zura'' "foolish face; stupid look"; and some

verb phrase In linguistics, a verb phrase (VP) is a syntactic unit composed of a verb and its arguments except the subject of an independent clause or coordinate clause. Thus, in the sentence ''A fat man quickly put the money into the box'', the words ''q ...

s are ''baka ni suru'' "make a fool of (someone); treat with contempt", ''baka yobawarisuru'' "call (someone) a fool", and ''baka o miru'' "make a fool/ass of (oneself)". Two extended meanings of ''baka''⁴ "worthless" and ''baka''⁵ "excess" expand upon "folly; foolishness". ''Baka''⁴ "worthless; foolish; valueless; trifling; insignificant" is used in expressions such as ''bakageta'' "foolish; absurd; ridiculous"; ''bakana'' "foolish; silly; stupid"; and ''bakarashii'' , ''bakabakarashii'' , or ''bakakusai'' , all meaning "foolish; absurd; ridiculous". It is further used in phrases like ''baka ie'' "Nonsense!; Go on!", and ''bakana mane o suru'' "do a foolish thing; act foolishly". ''Baka''⁵ "excess; foolish; absurd; extreme; extravagant" is found in a number of expressions: ''bakani'' or ''bakabakashiku'' "awfully; terribly; extremely"; ''bakayasui'' "ridiculously/dirt cheap"; ''bakane'' or ''bakadakai'' "ridiculously expensive"; ''bakateinei'' "excessive politeness"; and ''bakashōjiki'' "honest to a fault". Three special meanings are unrelated semantic connections. ''Baka''⁶ "trough shell" is a truncation of ''bakagai'' " trough shell; ''

Mactra chinensis ''Mactra chinensis'' is a species of saltwater clam, a marine bivalve mollusc in the family Mactridae, the trough shells. Distribution and habitat ''Mactra chinensis'' is found living in sandy substrates in shallow marine habitats in Vietnam, ...

''". ''Baka''⁷ "numbness (of limbs)" is used in the expression ''baka ni naru'' , and ''baka''⁸ means "(an antique kind of) coin counter".

Usages

''Baka'', which originated as a 14th-century literary insult, has become "the most commonly used"

swearword Profanity, also known as cursing, cussing, swearing, bad language, foul language, obscenities, expletives or vulgarism, is a socially offensive use of language. Accordingly, profanity is language use that is sometimes deemed impolite, rud ...

in contemporary Japanese. Usages of this term can be discussed in terms of pragmatic depth, dialectal variation, and proper names.

Pragmatics

The linguistic

pragmatics In linguistics and related fields, pragmatics is the study of how context contributes to meaning. The field of study evaluates how human language is utilized in social interactions, as well as the relationship between the interpreter and the in ...

of using

insults An insult is an expression or statement (or sometimes behavior) which is disrespectful or scornful. Insults may be intentional or accidental. An insult may be factual, but at the same time pejorative, such as the word " inbred". Jocular exc ...

like ''baka'' can be language specific. For instance, Japanese has fewer words for calling someone a "fool" than English. Jack Seward recounts asking his language teacher "to prepare a list of the most stunning and forcible insults, pejoratives, and curses in Japanese", but was surprised that the "short, unimaginative, and seeming ineffectual" list had only two words: ''baka'' "fool" and ''chikushō'' "beast". Carr proposes that intentional

vagueness In linguistics and philosophy, a vague predicate is one which gives rise to borderline cases. For example, the English adjective "tall" is vague since it is not clearly true or false for someone of middling height. By contrast, the word "prime" is ...

explains the comparatively small lexical field of Japanese insults.

One likely reason for the relatively few Japanese words for 'fool' is vagueness. In both English and Japanese, the words for 'fool' have meanings that vary along scales of friendly–hostile, or joking–serious. In English, at one end of a scale are words like ''silly goose'' and at the other end are words like ''stupid asshole''. And in Japanese, at one end are words like '' kamaboko baka'' 'silly chump' and at the other end are words like ''baka-yarō'' 'damn fool'. The difference is in the degree of lexical diversification along the scales of meaning. English seems to have more 'fool' words with more specificity – Japanese seems to have fewer 'fool' words with more vagueness. There are decided pragmatic and communicative advantages to such lexical vagueness. If you call me a ''stupid son-of-a-bitch'', I know exactly what you mean. But if you call me a ''baka-yarō'', I cannot be so sure of what you mean. The expression ''baka-yarō'' is one of the most insulting terms in the Japanese lexicon, but it is vague and can range in meaning from an affectionate 'silly-willy' to an abusive 'jerk-off fool'. ''Baka-yarō'' is so widely used that it has become semantically weak and vague. Such vagueness can serve to conceal hostility and thus to maintain social harmony.

Dialectal

Japanese dialects The dialects of the Japanese language fall into two primary clades, Eastern (including Tokyo) and Western (including Kyoto), with the dialects of Kyushu and Hachijō Island often distinguished as additional branches, the latter perhaps the most ...

show regional variations between using ''baka'' in

Kantō dialect The Kantō dialects (関東方言 ''kantō hōgen'', 関東弁 ''kantō-ben'') are a group of Japanese dialects spoken in the Kantō region (except for the Izu Islands).In northern Izu Islands are Tokai–Tosan dialects, and in the southern isla ...

and ''aho'' or "fool; idiot; jackass" in

Kansai dialect The is a group of Japanese dialects in the Kansai region (Kinki region) of Japan. In Japanese, is the common name and it is called in technical terms. The dialects of Kyoto and Osaka are known as , and were particularly referred to as suc ...

. In addition, the insult ''aho'' has more of a slang connotation than ''baka''. Many Japanese dictionaries treat the words ''baka'' and ''aho'' as synonyms. "However, in Osaka and its surroundings, ''aho'' is a rather non-offensive word, whereas ''baka'' is an explosive word." Nevertheless, "In Tokyo and its surroundings, we find exactly the opposite, so you must be careful with the usage of these words."

Proper names

''Baka'' frequently occurs in

proper nouns A proper noun is a noun that identifies a single entity and is used to refer to that entity (''Africa'', ''Jupiter'', ''Sarah'', ''Microsoft)'' as distinguished from a common noun, which is a noun that refers to a class of entities (''continent, ...

. Examples from

Japanese pop music J-pop ( ja, ジェイポップ, ''jeipoppu''; often stylized as J-POP; an abbreviated form of "Japanese popular music"), natively also known simply as , is the name for a form of popular music that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1 ...

include albums ('' Pretty Little Baka Guy'', '' Ai no Baka'' "Love Fool") and songs ("

Suki Sugite Baka Mitai is the first single released by Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while e ...

" "To Like imToo Much and Look Like a Fool"). Some titles from modern Japanese literature are ''

Tsuribaka Nisshi is a Japanese fishing-themed manga series written by Jūzō Yamasaki and illustrated by Kenichi Kitami. It has been serialized in Shogakukan's ''seinen'' manga magazine '' Big Comic Original'' since 1979. It won the 28th Shogakukan Manga A ...

'' ("Fishing Fool's Diary"), '' Inubaka: Crazy for Dogs'' ("Dog Fool"), '' Karate Baka Ichidai'' ("A Karate-Crazy Life"), and '' Baka to Test to Shōkanjū'' ("Idiots, Tests, and Summoned Creatures").

English

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, ''baka'' was American

military slang Military slang is an array of colloquial terminology used commonly by military personnel, including slang which is unique to or originates with the armed forces. In English-speaking countries, it often takes the form of abbreviations/acronyms or d ...

for the Imperial Japanese

Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka The Yokosuka MXY-7 was a purpose-built, rocket-powered human-guided ''kamikaze'' attack aircraft employed by Japan against Allied ships towards the end of the Pacific War during World War II. Although extremely fast, the very short range of ...

kamikaze , officially , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending t ...

flying bomb. The earliest recorded usage was in ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely ...

'' on May 7, 1945, "American forces have officially designated this bomb as 'baka', baka being Japanese for foolish, silly, or stupid." In modern times, ''baka'' has often been used in

anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...

communities. This has also led to the satirical and ironic use of ''baka'' to call someone a fool or mock anime communities, especially in Internet meme spaces.

References

External links

{{Wiktionary, バカ, 馬鹿
ばか【馬鹿, 莫迦, 破家】
jeKai
What Does Baka Mean in Japanese – and Why You (Probably) Shouldn’t Use It, Coto Japanese Academy
Slurs related to low intelligence Japanese words and phrases