跼せぐくまる

also: せくぐまる

せ

ぐ

く

ま

る

Meanings

godan verb (-ru)

bend down with a round back; hunch over

Describes a posture where the back is rounded and the body is lowered, often in a cramped or defensive manner. Rare literary word; in modern Japanese, うずくまる or かがむ are more common.

彼かれは寒さむさに跼せぐくまって震ふるえていた。
He was hunched over and shivering in the cold.
古ふるい小しょう説せつで「跼せぐくまる」という表ひょう現げんを見みつけた。
I came across the expression 跼まる in an old novel.

Written forms

跼まる
- せぐくまる
  Rare kanji spelling; the character 跼 is not in common use. The word is usually written in kana.
- せくぐまる
せくぐまる
Alternate reading variant; both せぐくまる and せくぐまる are used, but せぐくまる is more common.

Kanji

跼bow, stoop, bend over

Similar words

うずくまる
うずくまる is the common word for crouching or squatting down, often with a sense of staying low. 跼まる is a rare literary synonym focusing on the rounded back.
かがむ
かがむ means to bend forward or stoop, but does not necessarily imply a rounded back or defensive posture like 跼まる.

Etymology

The origin is uncertain. The kanji 跼 is rare and means 'crouch' or 'bend', likely chosen for its meaning. The reading may be a compound of 背 (se, 'back') + 屈まる (kugumaru, 'bend'), but this is speculative.