仮名

From Old Japanese. Compound of 仮(かり) (kari, “borrowing, provisional thing”, cognate with verb 借(か)る (karu, “to borrow”), the Old Japanese form of modern 借(か)りる (kariru)) + 名(な) (na, “name, character”), from the way that Chinese characters were borrowed for their phonetic values to spell out the sounds of native Japanese words.^[1][2]

Used in contrast to 真(ま)名(な) (mana, “true name, true character”), a synonym for 漢(かん)字(じ) (kanji), indicating Chinese characters used for their meaning instead of for their sound.^[1][2]

• (Tokyo) かりな [kàríná] (Heiban – [0])^[2]
• IPA^(key): [ka̠ɾʲina̠]

仮(かり)名(な) • (karina) 

1. a category of Japanese syllabary scripts: kana
2. a syllabogram, an individual character belonging to one of the syllabaries: kana
3. a temporary name, an alias

• (alias): 変(へん)名(めい) (henmei): changed name; 偽(ぎ)名(めい) (gimei): false or fictitious name

• (antonym(s) of “alias”): 実(じつ)名(めい) (jitsumei): actual name; 本(ほん)名(みょう) (honmyō): real name

/karina/ → /kanna/

Contraction of 仮(かり)名(な) (karina) above.

• (Tokyo) かんな [kàńná] (Heiban – [0])
• IPA^(key): [kã̠nːa̠]

仮(かん)名(な) • (kanna) 

1. a category of Japanese syllabary scripts: kana
2. a syllabogram, an individual character belonging to one of the syllabaries: kana

/karina/ → /kanna/ → /kana/

Contraction of 仮(かん)名(な) (kanna) above. The reading may appear to be jūbakoyomi, but is instead actually an irregular development of the kun'yomi.

• (Tokyo) かな [kàná] (Heiban – [0])^[3][2][4]
• IPA^(key): [ka̠na̠]

仮(か)名(な) • (kana) 

1. a category of Japanese syllabary scripts: kana
2. a syllabogram, an individual character belonging to one of the syllabaries: kana
   • 1603, Vocabvlario da Lingoa de Iapam (Nippo Jisho) [Vocabulary of the Language of Japan] (in Portuguese), Nagasaki, page 86:

     Cana. カナ (仮名・仮字) 日本の文字の一種. Cananiyù. (仮名に言ふ) 皆の人がわかるように, やさしく話す.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

From Middle Chinese 假名 (MC kaeX mjieng, literally “borrowed, false” + “name”). The kan'on reading, so probably a somewhat later borrowing from Chinese. Compare modern Cantonese reading gaa² meng^4-2.

• (Tokyo) かめー [kàméé] (Heiban – [0])^[3][2][4]
• IPA^(key): [ka̠me̞ː]

仮(か)名(めい) • (kamei) 

1. pseudonym, alias, sobriquet, pen name

/kemjau/ → /kemjɔː/ → /kemjoː/

From Middle Chinese 假名 (MC kaeX mjieng, literally “borrowed, false” + “name”). The goon reading, so probably an earlier borrowing from Chinese. Compare modern Min Nan reading ké-miâ.

The Buddhist sense derives from use of this term in Chinese as a translation of Sanskrit प्रज्ञप्ति (prajñapti, “appointing → provisional naming”), used in some Buddhist schools to refer to the practice of conceptualising and naming things that are not real.

• (Tokyo) けみょー [kèmyóó] (Heiban – [0])^[2]
• IPA^(key): [ke̞mʲo̞ː]

仮(け)名(みょう) • (kemyō) ^{←けみやう (kemyau)?}

1. pseudonym, alias, sobriquet, pen name
2. in feudal Japan, a public name given to boys upon coming of age, after which their birth names would be kept private
3. a provisional name given to someone when the real name is unknown: compare English Jane Doe, John Doe
4. (Buddhism) the conceptualisation and provisional naming of things that are not real; something so named

• “仮名”, in 漢字ぺディア [Kanjipedia]‎^[1] (in Japanese), The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 2015–2026
• Doi, Tadao (1603–1604), Hōyaku Nippo Jisho (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Iwanami Shoten, published 1980, →ISBN.