女房

Probably ultimately from Middle Chinese 女房 (MC nrjoX bjang), with an initial meaning in line with the spelling: 女 (woman) + 房 (“room, chamber”). First cited to 985.[1]

• (Tokyo) にょ​ーぼー [nyóꜜòbòò] (Atamadaka – [1])[2][3][4]
• IPA^(key): [ɲ̟o̞ːbo̞ː]

女(にょう)房(ぼう) • (nyōbō) ^{←にようばう (nyoubau)?}

1. [from 985] a woman who works in the imperial household and is granted personal living quarters in the imperial grounds; (more generally) a female servant for a high-ranking household
2. [from 1120] one's female lover or love interest
3. [from late 1200s] (more specifically) one's own wife (in modern usage, often has humble nuances: generally not used when speaking to others to refer to another person's wife)
   • 1940, Osamu Dazai, Hashire Melos [Run, Melos!]‎:

     メロスには父(ちち)も、母(はは)も無(な)い。女(にょう)房(ぼう)も無(な)い。

     Merosu ni wa chichi mo, haha mo nai. Nyōbō mo nai.

     Melos had no father or mother. Nor had he a wife.

4. [from 1118] (historical, archaic) a nom de plume used by royalty, nobility, and other high-ranking authors in poetry contests, to avoid biasing the judges

• 女(にょう)房(ぼう)詞(ことば) (nyōbō kotoba)

• /njoːboː/ → /njoːbo/

Shortening of the final vowel in 女房 (nyōbō).[1][2][5]

First cited to 1752.[1]

• (Tokyo) にょ​ーぼ [nyóꜜòbò] (Atamadaka – [1])[2]
• IPA^(key): [ɲ̟o̞ːbo̞]

女(にょう)房(ぼ) • (nyōbo) ^{←にようぼ (nyoubo)?}

1. [from 1752] one's own wife (in modern usage, often has humble nuances: generally not used when speaking to others to refer to another person's wife)

Shift from 女房 (nyōbō).[1][2][5]

First cited to a text from the late 1100s.[1]

This form of the word gained greater currency during the Muromachi period (1336–1573), then fell out of use in the early Edo period (1603–1868). It is possible that this form of the word is simply an orthographical variant; various Japanese references indicate that it might have still been pronounced as something like nyōbō.[1][2][5][6]

• (Tokyo) にゅ​うぼー [nyúꜜùbòò] (Atamadaka – [1]) (actual pronunciation uncertain)
• IPA^(key): [ɲ̟ɯ̟ᵝːbo̞ː]

女(にゅう)房(ぼう) • (nyūbō) ^{←にうばう (niubau)?}

1. [late 1100s – early 1600s] (archaic) one's wife