食べ物 (Japanese)
Where does "食べ物" come from?
The Japanese noun 'tabemono' is a compound formed from 'tabe', the continuative stem of the verb 'taberu' meaning 'to eat', and the noun 'mono', meaning 'thing'[1]. The verb 'taberu' itself developed from Old Japanese 'tabu', which originally served as a humble verb meaning 'to receive or get from a superior'[2]. Meanwhile, 'mono' is an ancient word attested as early as the Kojiki, developing from an earlier Old Japanese form reconstructed ultimately back to Proto-Japonic '*mənə'[3]. Together, the elements form a straightforward construction literally meaning 'eating thing' to denote food, provisions, or diet[1].
Open questions
- The verb is considered most likely, but not definitively, cognate with 'tamau', which means to give as a superior. [2]
- The ultimate Proto-Japonic ancestor of 'mono' is reconstructed as '*mənə'. [3]
Full etymology tree
- 食べ物 (tabemono) (Japanese), 'food in general; provisions'
- compound 食べ (tabe) (Japanese), 'imperfective and stem (or continuative) forms of 食べる (taberu)'
- deverbal 食べる (taberu) (Japanese), 'to eat'
- inherited 食ぶ (tabu) (Old Japanese)
- derived 賜ぶ (tabu) (Old Japanese)
- inherited 食ぶ (tabu) (Old Japanese)
- deverbal 食べる (taberu) (Japanese), 'to eat'
- compound 物 (mono) (Japanese), 'thing (concrete, tangible)'
- inherited 物 (mo₂no₂) (Old Japanese)
- inherited *mənə (Proto-Japonic), 'concrete thing; object (as opposed to *kətə (“abstract thing”))'
- inherited 物 (mo₂no₂) (Old Japanese)
- compound 食べ (tabe) (Japanese), 'imperfective and stem (or continuative) forms of 食べる (taberu)'
Sources
- 食べ物 (tabemono) (Japanese) - Wiktionary
- 食べる (taberu) (Japanese) - Wiktionary
- 物 (mono) (Japanese) - Wiktionary
Updated October 2026
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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris