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食い初め (くいぞめ) Japanese meaning | Kotomora
Freq. Frequency Top 100,000 Meanings 1
noun
first meal ceremony ; 100-day celebration
A traditional Japanese ceremony held when a baby is about 100 days old, where the baby is symbolically fed solid food for the first time to wish for a life free from hunger. Often called お食い初め.
See also: お食い初め
Written forms 食く い 初ぞ め Usage 80%
Standard kanji spelling for this ceremony.
くいぞめ Usage 20%
食くい 初ぞ め
Variant spelling without the okurigana い.
お 食く い 初ぞ め
Honorific form commonly used in practice.
食く
い
初ぞ
め
で
は
、
小ちい
さな
箸はし
で
赤あか
ちゃん
に
食た
べ
させる
真似まね
を
する
。
At the weaning ceremony, we pretend to feed the baby with small chopsticks.
eat, food
Similar words お 宮みや 参まい り A Shinto shrine visit for a newborn, typically around one month old, whereas 食い初め is a meal ceremony at about 100 days.
初はつ 節ぜっ 句く The first seasonal festival for a child (e.g., Hinamatsuri or Tango no Sekku), while 食い初め is specifically about the first symbolic meal.
Etymology From 食い (eating) + 初め (first time). The honorific prefix お is often added.
