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餓莩 (がひょう) Japanese meaning | Kotomora

餓が莩ひょう

Meanings

1

noun

starvation; bodies of the starved

archaic

Archaic literary term for death by starvation or the corpses of those who starved. Not used in modern everyday Japanese.

古こ文ぶん書しょには、飢き饉きんで餓が莩ひょうが道みちに満みちたと記しるされている。
Ancient documents record that during the famine, the roads were filled with the bodies of the starved.

Kanji

餓starve, hungry, thirst
莩membrane lining inside reed, very thin

Similar words

餓が死し
餓死 is the standard modern term for death from starvation, while 餓莩 is an archaic literary expression.
飢き饉きん
飢饉 means famine, the broader disaster that leads to starvation, whereas 餓莩 specifically refers to the resulting starvation or corpses.

Etymology

Compound of 餓 (starvation) and 莩 (a rare character for dying of hunger or the corpse of a starved person). The exact historical derivation is uncertain; the spelling is conventionally associated with classical Chinese texts.