Yudan (油断 - Carelessness)

Yudan

To let one's guard down or to be careless is called 'yudan' (油断) in Japanese.

'Yu' (油) means "oil" and 'dan' (断) means "to cut off" or "to break."

There are two major theories about its etymology.

One is that it comes from the story of Buddhist scriptures; "A king gave his servant a bowl of oil, and said that when he spills the oil, his life would be cut off."

The other one is that it comes from the archaic Japanese word 'yutani' (ゆたに), which means to relax.

油断

気をゆるめることや、注意を怠ることを、「油断」と言います。

「油」は "oil," 「断」は "to cut off" や "to break" を意味します。

この言葉の語源には、大きく以下の二つの説があります。

一つは、仏教の経典の「王が家臣に油の入った鉢を持たせ、一滴でもこぼしたら命を断つと命じた」という話から来たという説です。

もう一つは、ゆったりすることを意味する古語の「ゆたに」が変化して、「ゆだん」になったという説です。

• One is that it comes from the story of Buddhist scriptures; "A king gave his servant a bowl of oil, and said that when he spills the oil, his life would be cut off."
• One is that it comes from a story from the Buddhist scriptures: "A king gave his servant a bowl of oil, and said that when he spills the oil, his life will be cut off."