骸骨を乞う

Japanese
Kanji in this term
骸 骨 乞
がい
Grade: S		 こつ
Grade: 6		 こ(う)
Grade: S
kan’yōon kan’on kun’yomi

Etymology

From the 晏子春秋 (Anshin Shunjū, “Annals of Master Yan”),[1][2][3] a calque of Literary Chinese 乞骸骨 (qǐ háigǔ).

Literally “offer a skeleton”.

Idiom

骸骨(がいこつ)を乞(こ)う • (gaikotsu o kou) ←がいこつをこふ (gaikotwokofu)?

  1. to request one's own resignation
    • 728, Shoku Nihongi (Jinki 5, first day of the eighth month)
      正五位下守部連大隅上書、乞㆓骸骨㆒。優詔不㆑許。
      Shōgoi no Ge (Senior Fifth Rank, Lower Grade) Moribe no Muraji Ōsumi wrote a letter to his superior to request his resignation. The grateful imperial decree didn't permit that.

References
  1. Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
  2. Matsumura, Akira (1995) 大辞泉 [Daijisen] (in Japanese), First edition, Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
  3. Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
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