# くち
## Japanese
### Etymology 1

* Alternative spelling
* 口
From Old Japanese, ultimately from Proto-Japonic *kutui. Appears in the Kojiki of 712 CE and the Man'yōshū completed some time after 759 CE. Possibly cognate with Goguryeo *古次 (*kuci, “mouth”).
Standalone form of 口(くつ) (kutsu, bound form). Compare 神 (kami, kamu-, “spirit, god”), 木 (ki, ko-, “tree”), and 目 (me, ma-, “eye”).
There are interesting potential phonetic and semantic overlaps with Middle Chinese 窟 (MC khwot, “hole; cave”), 口 (MC khuwX, “mouth; opening; hole”); Korean 굳 (gut), 굿 (gut, “hole; hollow; cavity”); possibly even Ainu クㇳ (kut), クッチ (kutchi, “throat”). One possibility is that these represent prehistoric nativized borrowings from Chinese. However, there is yet no clear evidence of relatedness.

#### Alternative forms

* (non-productive, bound form)
** (prefixal) くつ (kutsu)

#### Pronunciation

* (Tokyo) くち [kùchí] (Heiban – [0])
* IPA: [kɯ̟̊t͡ɕi]

#### Noun

くち • (kuchi)
* 口: mouth
** 1999 July 22, “グレード・ビル [Great Bill]”, in Vol.4, Konami:
    どんなものでも丸(まる)飲(の)みできる大(おお)きな口(くち)を持(も)っている。
       Donna mono de mo marunomi dekiru ōkina kuchi o motteiru.
       Its massive mouth can swallow whole anything whole.
* 口: opening
* 口: voice, author
    書(か)き口(くち)
       kakikuchi
       (please add an English translation of this example)
* 口: drinker, consumer
    行(い)ける口(くち)
       ikeru kuchi
       able to down a drink
    飲(の)める口(くち)
       nomeru kuchi
       (please add an English translation of this example)
* 口: taste (in food), preference
    日(に)本(ほん)人(じん)の口(くち)に合(あ)わせた料(りょう)理(り)
       Nihonjin no kuchi ni awaseta ryōri
       food adapted to Japanese tastes

##### Derived terms

* 口(くち)荒(あら) (kuchiara)
* 口(くち)占(うら), 口(くち)裏(うら) (kuchiura)
* 口(くち)絵(え) (kuchie)
* 口(くち)可笑(おかし) (kuchiokashi)
* 口(くち)重(おも) (kuchiomo)
* 口(くち)金(がね) (kuchigane)
* 口(くち)軽(がる) (kuchigaru)
* 口(くち)綺(ぎ)麗(れい), 口(くち)奇(ぎ)麗(れい) (kuchigirei)
* 口(くち)癖(ぐせ) (kuchiguse)
* 口(くち)々(くち), 口(くち)口(くち) (kuchikuchi)
* 口(くち)々(ぐち), 口(くち)口(ぐち) (kuchiguchi)
* 口(くち)車(ぐるま) (kuchiguruma)
* 口(くち)巧(ごう)者(しゃ) (kuchigōsha)
* 口(くち)言(こと)葉(ば), 口(くち)詞(ことば) (kuchikotoba)
* 口(くち)先(さき) (kuchisaki)
* 口(くち)三(ざ)味(み)線(せん) (kuchizamisen)
* 口(くち)三(じゃ)味(み)線(せん) (kuchijamisen)
* 口(くち)銭(せん) (kuchisen)
* 口(くち)達(だっ)者(しゃ) (kuchidassha)
* 口(くち)茶(ぢゃ) (kuchija)
* 口(くち)八(はっ)丁(ちょう) (kuchihatchō)
* 口(くち)速(ばや), 口(くち)早(ばや) (kuchibaya)
* 口(くち)火(び) (kuchibi)
* 口(くち)拍(びょう)子(し) (kuchibyōshi)
* 口(くち)笛(ぶえ) (kuchibue)
* 口(くち)不(ぶ)調(ちょう)法(ほう) (kuchibuchōhō)
* 口(くち)下手(べた) (kuchibeta)
* 口(くち)紅(べに) (kuchibeni)
* 口(くち)返(へん)答(とう) (kuchihentō)
* 口(くち)前(まえ) (kuchimae)
* 口(くち)真(ま)似(ね) (kuchimane)
* 口(くち)忠実(まめ) (kuchimame)
* 口(くち)元(もと), 口(くち)許(もと) (kuchimoto)
* 口(くち)輪(わ) (kuchiwa)
* 口(くち)脇(わき) (kuchiwaki)
* 口(くち)話(わ)法(ほう) (kuchiwahō)
* 糸(いと)口(ぐち) (itoguchi): the end of a spool or ball of thread
* 入(いり)口(ぐち) (iriguchi): entrance
* 奥(おく)口(ぐち) (okuguchi): the inner doors of a house
* 表(おもて)口(ぐち) (omoteguchi): the front entrance/exit
* 傷(きず)口(ぐち) (kizuguchi): an open wound
* 蛇(じゃ)口(ぐち) (jaguchi)
* 出(で)口(ぐち) (deguchi): exit

### Etymology 2

* Alternative spelling
* 鷹
From Old Japanese, from Baekje 倶知 (*kuti, “hawk”), as mentioned in the Nihon Shoki of 720.
The last cited usage was the Sanbokukikashū of circa 1128.

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: [kɯ̟t͡ɕi]

#### Noun

くち • (kuchi)
* 鷹: (obsolete) hawk
    Synonym: 鷹 (taka)

### Etymology 3

The 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of 朽ちる (kuchiru, “to rot”).

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: [kɯ̟t͡ɕi]

#### Noun

くち • (kuchi)
* 朽, 腐: something rotten
* 朽, 腐: a disease that makes ears of grain rot

#### Affix

くち • (kuchi)
* 朽, 腐: rotting
* 朽, 腐: aging

### Etymology 4

For pronunciation and definitions of くち – see the following entry. :
| 【駆馳】 | [noun] [from 1475] driving with a car, horse, etc. [noun] [from c. 1346] working with affairs [verb] [from 1475] to drive with a car, horse, etc. [verb] [from c. 1346] to work with affairs |
(This term, くち (kuchi), is the hiragana spelling of the above term.) For a list of all kanji read as くち, see Category:Japanese kanji read as くち.) :

### References

* 1 2 Vovin, Alexander (2017) “Origins of the Japanese Language”, in Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics, →DOI
* ↑ “口”, in 日本国語大辞典 [Nihon Kokugo Daijiten]‎ (in Japanese), concise edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, 2006
* ↑ c. 759, Man’yōshū, book 14, poem 3532:, text here
* ↑ Itabashi, Yoshizo (2003) “高句麗の地名から高句麗語と朝鮮語・日本語との史 的関係をさぐる [A Study of the Historical Relationship of the Koguryo Language, the Old Japanese Language, and the Middle Korean Language on the Basis of Fragmentary Glosses Preserved as Place Names in the Samguk Sagi]”, in 日本語系統論の現 [Perspectives on the Origins of the Japanese Language] (in Japanese), →DOI, pages 131-185
* ↑ Beckwith, Christopher (2007) Koguryo: The Language of Japan’s Continental Relatives (Brill's Japanese Studies Library)‎, →ISBN, page 128, →ISBN
* ↑ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
* ↑ NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN
* ↑ Yamada, Tadao et al., editors (2011), 新明解国語辞典 [Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten] (in Japanese), Seventh edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
* ↑ Vovin, Alexander (2013) “From Koguryo to T'amna”, in Korean Linguistics‎, volume 15, number 2 (PDF), John Benjamins Publishing Company, →DOI, pages 222-240
* ↑ John Bentley (2000) “New Look at Paekche and Korean: Data from Nihon shoki”, in Language Research‎, volume 36, number 2, Seoul National University, pages 417—443
* ↑ “くち 【鷹】”, in 日本国語大辞典 [Nihon Kokugo Daijiten]‎ (in Japanese), 2nd edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, 2000-2002, released online 2007, →ISBN, concise edition entry available here
* ↑ “朽・腐”, in 日本国語大辞典 [Nihon Kokugo Daijiten]‎ (in Japanese), concise edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, 2006

## Okinawan
### Noun

くち (kuchi)
* 口: mouth, language, dialect, speech
* 骨: remains, ashes
* 東風: easterly