坊
Meanings
Refers to a Buddhist monk. 'Bonze' is an older term from European writings; 'monk' is the standard modern gloss.
That monk chants sutras every morning.
monk's dwelling
Only with reading ぼう
Restricted to reading ぼう. Refers to the living quarters of a Buddhist monk.
The sound of the bell can be heard from the monk's dwelling on the mountain.
Affectionate or familiar term for a young boy or one's own son. Can be used as a form of address.
Our boy is still in elementary school.
Hey, sonny, come here for a moment.
Only with reading ぼう
Restricted to reading ぼう. Used by male children as a first-person pronoun. Informal and childish.
I wanna go to the park today.
Only with reading ぼう
Restricted to reading ぼう. Familiar suffix attached to a boy's name, similar to '-chan' but more old-fashioned or dialectal.
Tarō-bō, dinner's ready!
person who is ...
Only with reading ぼう
Restricted to reading ぼう. Suffix indicating a person characterized by the preceding word. Often preceded by ん, e.g., けちん坊 (miser), 食いしん坊 (glutton).
He's a real glutton, isn't he.
It's rare for that miser to treat us.
Usage patterns
- 〈動詞〉ん坊a person characterized by doing ~ (attached to a verb stem to form a nickname-like noun)
He's really a spoiled, clingy kid.