変てこ

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Japanese

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Kanji in this term
へん
Grade: 4
on’yomi
Alternative spellings
變てこ (kyūjitai)
変梃 (less common)
へんてこ
ヘンテコ

Etymology

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Compound of (hen, strange, weird, odd) +‎ てこ (teko).[1][2]

The latter element teko is sometimes spelled in kanji as (teko, lever). However, considering the existence of synonyms with similar phonetics where the latter element is purely used for phonetic effect, the teko here is likely of similar derivation. Consider the second half of English okey dokey, used for phonetic effect.

First attested in a text from 1776.[1][2]

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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(へん)てこ or (ヘン)てこ (henteko-na (adnominal (へん)てこ (henteko na), adverbial (へん)てこ (henteko ni))

  1. odd, absurd

Inflection

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Noun

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(へん)てこ or (ヘン)てこ (henteko

  1. weirdness, something strange

Synonyms

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References

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  1. 1.0 1.1 Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典(新装版) [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN