チンピラ
Japanese
Etymology
Unknown. Appears in texts from the early 1900s.[1]
Early uses referred to young pickpockets. May have originally been a compound of ちん (chin, slang prefix indicating “small, little”, sometimes even spelled 小) + 片 (hira, “piece or scrap of paper”).
Noun
チンピラ or ちんぴら • (chinpira)
- a child or other youth putting on airs and acting arrogantly
- a chav, a bogan
- a hoodlum, a minor criminal, a hooligan, a punk
- 近所のチンピラ
- kinjo no chinpira
- a neighborhood punk
- 1967, Kazuo Ōkubo, Aka to kuro, translation of Le Rouge et le Noir by Stendhal:
- もちろんアカデミ会員の甥で、将来教授となるべきタンボーという名のあのちんぴら文士のことなどお忘れになっていることだろう。
- Mochiron Akademi kaīn no oi de, shōrai kyōju to naru beki Tanbō to iu mei no ano chinpira bunshi no koto nado owasure ni natte iru koto darō.
- He is of course the nephew of a member of the Academy, a future professor by the name of Tambor, a literary hoodlum destined to be forgotten.
- もちろんアカデミ会員の甥で、将来教授となるべきタンボーという名のあのちんぴら文士のことなどお忘れになっていることだろう。
- 近所のチンピラ
- an apprentice yakuza, a low-ranking gangster, a young member of an organized crime group
- 1996, Jirō Akagawa, Shinguru, →ISBN, page 131:
- 本当にチンピラなので、もし和代の方で見たとしても、顔は分らなかったろう。しかし、チンピラの方では、しっかり和代の顔が頭に入っていたのだ。
- Hontō ni chinpira na no de, moshi Kazuyo no hō de mita to shite mo, kao wa wakaranakattarō. Shikashi, chinpira no hō de wa, shikkari Kazuyo no kao ga atama ni haitte ita no da.
- Because he’s a real low-level guy, even if Kazuyo sees him, she won’t know his face, right. But those low-level guys absolutely have Kazuyo’s face in mind.
- 本当にチンピラなので、もし和代の方で見たとしても、顔は分らなかったろう。しかし、チンピラの方では、しっかり和代の顔が頭に入っていたのだ。
Usage notes
The katakana spelling may be more common.
References
- Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
- Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
- 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
- Kindaichi, Kyōsuke et al., editors (1997), 新明解国語辞典 [Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten] (in Japanese), Fifth edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
Further reading
- Entry at Gogen-Allguide (in Japanese)
- Entry at Nihon Jiten (in Japanese)
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