カニ

Ainu

Alternative forms

カーニ (Sakhalin)

Etymology

Proto-Ainu *kaani HHH (“metal”) ( < OJ kane HH “metal”).^[1]

Borrowed from Japanese 金 (kane, “gold, metal”)

Noun

カニ • (kani)

metal
gold
(Kuril, South Kuril) iron

Derived terms

フレカニ ("red metal", copper)

dialect table: metal (1964)^[2]
area	pronunciation
Yakumo (八雲)	káni
Horobetsu (幌別)	káni
Saru (沙流)	káne
Obihiro (帯広)	kaní
Bihoro (美幌)	kani
Asahikawa (旭川)	káni
Nayoro (名寄)	káni
Soya (宗谷)	kaní
Karafuto (樺太)	kaani
Chishima (千島)

References

^ Vovin, Alexander V. (1993) Leiden: E.J. Brill, editors, A Reconstruction of Proto-Ainu.
^ 服部四郎 (Shirō Hattori) (1964) アイヌ語方言辞典 (Ainu Go Hōgen Jiten, “An Ainu Dialect Dictionary”)‎^[1] (in Japanese), Japan: 岩波書店 (“Iwanami Shoten”)

単語リスト（アイヌ語・日本語）―石狩川― (Tango List Ainu-go Nihon-go - Ishikari River, “Word List (Ainu / Japanese) - Ishikari River”)‎^[2] (in Japanese), Sapporo, Hokkaidō: 公益財団法人アイヌ文化振興・研究推進機構 (Zaidan Hōjin Ainu Bunka Shinkō / Kenkyū Suishin Kikō, “Foundation for the Advancement, Research, and Promotion of Ainu Culture”), 2014 (Hokkaido)

Anna Bugaeva and Tomomi Satō (2021) A Kuril Ainu Glossary by Captain V. M. Golovnin (1811)‎^[3], Tokyo: International Journal of Eurasian Linguistics (Kuril)

Japanese

For pronunciation and definitions of カニ – see the following entry.

【蟹かに】J

[noun] [from 712] a crab (infraorder Brachyura)

[noun] [date unspecified] the act of walking stretched and sideways, like a crab

[noun] [from late Edo period] the act of a prostitute who secretly meets with her lover

[noun] (slang, criminal, stall keeper) [from 1892] scissors

[noun] (colloquial) [date unspecified] a handjob (stimulating the penis using a hand); a pussy (vulva); a prostitute

[noun] [from 970-999] Synonym of 蟹糞 (kanikuso, “meconium”)

[noun] [date unspecified] a swell of an infant with water and pus

[noun] [date unspecified] a 家紋 (kamon, “family crest”) containing crabs, a front-facing crab in a circle, and square crabs

[noun] [date unspecified] a head in 人形浄瑠璃 (ningyōjōruri) whose face is stretched out like a crab; two is used for honest men and another for minor characters

[noun] [date unspecified] a style used in 生け花 (ikebana) whose metallic part looks like a crab

[noun] [from 1930] a term used to mock Western women who are bow-legged

(This term, カニ (kani), is the katakana spelling of the above term.)

[1] Vovin, Alexander V. (1993) Leiden: E.J. Brill, editors, A Reconstruction of Proto-Ainu.

[2] 服部四郎 (Shirō Hattori) (1964) アイヌ語方言辞典 (Ainu Go Hōgen Jiten, “An Ainu Dialect Dictionary”)‎^[1] (in Japanese), Japan: 岩波書店 (“Iwanami Shoten”)

[1]

[2]