Beautiful Japanese Word of the Day #19
There are countless beautiful words in the Japanese language describing the beauty of seasons and nature. Through this series, we hope to share some of that with more people who are interested in the Japanese language. Today's word is...
十六夜 [Izayoi]
"Izayoi refers to the 16th of every month on the lunar calendar or the moon on the 16th"
十六 [Jyuu Roku] means sixteen
夜 [Yoru] means night
猶予う [Izayou] is a word that means to hesitate or hold back. Compared to the moon on the 15th, the moon comes out later on the 16th. This appeared as though the moon was hesitating thus being called Izayoi.
Writer's note: Interesting how there's no way you can read "16 nights" as Izayoi even if you studied Japanese your whole life. I like the sound of it and wouldn't be surprised if there was a manga character named Izayoi.