木偶でく

noun

wooden doll; wooden figure

Refers to a carved wooden doll or figure, often used in traditional contexts. The reading でく is most common; もくぐう and ぼくぐう are rare literary/technical readings.

• この木偶でくは江え戸ど時じ代だいの職しょく人にんが作つくったものだ。

  This wooden doll was made by a craftsman in the Edo period.

noun

puppet

Only with reading でく

Used for a puppet, especially a traditional wooden puppet. Restricted to the reading でく.

• 彼かれは木偶でくを操あやつって物もの語がたりを語かたる。

  He tells a story by manipulating a puppet.

noun

blockhead; good-for-nothing; fool

Only with reading でく

Figurative use, often in the phrase 木偶の坊 (でくのぼう), meaning a useless person or blockhead. Restricted to the reading でく.

See also: でくの坊

• あいつは本ほん当とうに木偶でくの坊ぼうだな。

  That guy is really a blockhead.

• 何なにもできない木偶でくにはなりたくない。

  I don't want to become a good-for-nothing who can't do anything.