抱く

/idaku/ → /daku/

Shift from idaku.^[1][2][3]

Compare the shift of 茨(いばら) (ibara, “bramble, briar”) → 薔薇(ばら) (bara, “rose”), or Classical いでる (ideru) and いだす (idasu) to modern 出(で)る (deru, “to come out, to appear”) and 出(だ)す (dasu, “to take out, to put out”).

First cited to the Utsubo Monogatari of roughly 999 CE.^[1]

• (Tokyo) だく [dàkú] (Heiban – [0])^[2][4]
• IPA^(key): [da̠kɯ̟]

抱(だ)く • (daku) transitive godan (stem 抱(だ)き (daki), past 抱(だ)いた (daita))

1. [circa 999 — present] to embrace, hug, hold in one's arms

   Synonym: 抱擁する (hōyō suru)

   彼氏(かれし)に後(うし)ろからそっと抱(だ)かれたい。

   Kareshi ni ushiro kara sotto dakaretai.

   I want my boyfriend to hug me gently from behind.

2. [1703 — present] (euphemistic) to sleep with someone

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:性交する

   抱(だ)いてね。 ― daite ne. ― Hold me.

3. to sit on eggs, to brood on a nest (said of a bird)
4. [1008 — present] (archaic) to hold something in mind, to harbor some feeling about, to entertain a thought about
5. [1773 — ] to involve someone in one's own actions or thoughts, particularly in negative contexts
6. [1822 — ] (archaic) to take a gigolo as a lover (said of a woman working in a brothel as support staff)

• 抱(だ)き (daki)
• ひん抱(だ)く (hindaku)

• 腰(こし)を抱(だ)く (koshi o daku)
• 膝(ひざ)を抱(だ)く (hiza o daku)
• 不(ふ)審(しん)を抱(だ)く (fushin o daku)

/udaku/ → /idaku/

Shift from earlier udaku.^[1]

This reading is possibly cited to a work from roughly 850 CE.^[1] However, that citation is phonologically ambiguous, and may represent the reading udaku instead. The first unambiguous citation for the idaku reading is in the Tosa Nikki of roughly 935 CE.^[1]

While there are numerous examples of mu shifting to u in various words, the mu- → u- → i- shift is unusual, and is shared only by mubara → ubara → ibara (茨, “bramble, briar”).^[1]

Found more commonly in 和(わ)文(ぶん) (wabun, “texts written primarily in native Japanese vocabulary”).^[1]

• (Tokyo) いだく [ìdáꜜkù] (Nakadaka – [2])^[2][4]
• IPA^(key): [ida̠kɯ̟]

抱(いだ)く • (idaku) transitive godan (stem 抱(いだ)き (idaki), past 抱(いだ)いた (idaita))

1. [maybe 850 — present] to hold something in mind, to harbor some feeling about, to entertain a thought about

   不満(ふまん)を抱(いだ)く

   fuman o idaku

   to harbor dissatisfaction

2. [circa 935 – present] (literary) to embrace, hug, hold in one's arms

• 抱(いだ)き (idaki)
• 抱(いだ)かふ (idakafu)

• 膝(ひざ)を抱(いだ)く (hiza o idaku)

• 重(じゅう)宝(ほう)を懐(いだ)く者(もの)は夜(や)行(こう)せず (jūhō o idaku mono wa yakō sezu)

⟨mudaku⟩ → /mudaku/ → /udaku/

Shift from Old Japanese 抱(むだ)く (mudaku),^[1] in turn possibly a compound of 身(む) (mu, “body”, combining reading) + 綰(た)く (taku, “to gather in the hands; to work or operate something with the hands”).^[1]

First cited to a text from roughly 810 CE.^[1]

This reading is encountered more in the context of 漢(かん)文(ぶん)訓(くん)読(どく) (kanbun kundoku, “the Japanese reading of texts written primarily in a variety of Classical Chinese”), and it fell out of use in roughly the Kamakura period.^[1][2]

• IPA^(key): [ɯ̟da̠kɯ̟]

抱(うだ)く • (udaku) transitive ^†yodan

1. [810–1200s] (obsolete) to hug, embrace
2. [883–1200s] to hold something in mind, to harbor some feeling about, to entertain a thought about

• “抱く”, in 漢字ぺディア [Kanjipedia]‎^[1] (in Japanese), The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 2015–2026

Probably a compound of 身 (mu, combining form of mi₂, “body”) +‎ 綰く (taku, “to do an action using one's hands”).^[1][2]

First cited in the Man'yōshū of roughly 759 CE. Not attested past the early Heian period.^[1]

The Nihon Ryōiki also attests udaki (宇于伎) and udakasi■ (有太加之■).

抱く (mudaku) (kana むだく)

1. to hug, embrace
   • c. 759, Man’yōshū, book 3, poem 481:

     腋挾　兒乃泣毎　雄自毛能　負見抱見

     WAKI₁BASAMU KO₁ no₂ NAKU GO₂TO₂ NI WOTO₂KO₁zimono₂ OPI₁ MI₁ MUDAKI₁ MI₁

     I caress under those arms; every time he crys, it is like a boy; I bear with it and hug it.

   • c. 759, Man’yōshū, book 14, poem 3404:

     可美都気努　安蘇能麻素武良　可伎武太伎　奴礼杼安加奴乎　安杼加安我世牟

     kami₁tuke₂no₁ aso₁ no₂ maso₁mura kaki₁mudaki₁ nuredo₂ akanu wo ado₂ ka a ga semu

     I embrace those hemps at Kamitukeno Aso; although I sleep, it's not satisfactory; what should I do?

   • 794, Shin'yaku Kegonkyō Ongi Shiki:

     抱持、上取也、牟太久

     Embrace. To take above. Mudaku.

• 抱き (mudaki₁)
• 搔き抱く (kaki₁mudaku)
• 拱く (tamudaku)

• 膝を抱く (pi₁za wo mudaku)

• Japanese: 抱く (udaku → idaku → daku)

• Omodaka, Hisataka (1967), 時代別国語大辞典 上代編 [The dictionary of historical Japanese: Old Japanese] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN, pages 117, 726