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占卜 (せんぼく, senboku) Japanese meaning: divination | Kotomora

占せん卜ぼく

せ

ん

ぼ

く

Meanings

1

divination; fortune-telling

A somewhat formal or literary term for divination or fortune-telling. In everyday speech, 占い (うらない) is more common.

古こ代だい中ちゅう国ごくでは、亀かめの甲こう羅らを使つかった占せん卜ぼくが行おこなわれていた。

Kanji

占fortune-telling, divining, forecasting
卜divining, fortune-telling, divination or katakana to radical (no. 25)

Related words

占うらない
The common, everyday word for fortune-telling. 占卜 is more formal and often refers to traditional or classical methods.

Etymology

From Chinese 占卜 (zhānbǔ), meaning divination. The exact historical derivation is uncertain, but the spelling is conventionally associated with fortune-telling.

In ancient China, divination using turtle shells was practiced.

彼かれは占せん卜ぼくによって将しょう来らいを予よ言げんしようとした。

He tried to predict the future through divination.