Idioms - Idioms

It is often used synonymously with compound words. In particular, it often refers to words that combine to create new meanings in addition to the original meaning, such as "tsukihi (day of the month)," "tomarigi (perch)," and "toshiwasure (year-end wasure)." It is also often used to refer to Chinese words that contain kanji characters as components, such as "endoryō (effort)," "taiyō (appearance)," and "yukuba (post town)." In these cases, if each kanji character is considered a morpheme, it would be a compound word, but in modern language this is no longer necessary, and it is more natural to think of it as a single simple word.

In English grammar, the word "idiom" is used to mean idiomatic expressions. In this case, it does not necessarily refer to a single word, but also includes compounds (lakeside), idiomatic expressions (give-and-take), and idiomatic phrases (rain cats and dogs).

[Kondo Yasuhiro]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

複合語と同義に用いられることが多い。とくに語が複合することによって、もとの語の意味だけでなく、新しい語義が生ずるものをさすことが多い。「月日(つきひ)」「とまり木」「年忘れ」などである。また、とくに漢字を構成要素とする漢語をさすことも多い（「努力」「登場」「宿場」など）。この場合は、漢字一字ごとを形態素とみれば複合語であるが、現代語ではすでにその必要はなく、一語の単純語と考えるほうが自然である。

　なお、英文法などにおいては、「熟語」の語を慣用句・慣用語（イディオム）の意味で用いる。この場合はかならずしも単語だけをさすのではなく、複合語（lakeside湖畔）や慣用語（give-and-take）や慣用句（rain cats and dogs激しく雨が降る）などを含めて用いられる。

［近藤泰弘］

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