Gokaku

Today I would like to talk about the Japanese common word "互角 (gokaku)."

"互 (go)" means "each other," "角 (kaku)" means "horn," and "互角" means that there is almost no difference among two, and it's difficult to decide the winning or the losing.

Actually, this word was originally written as "牛角 (gokaku)," the literal meaning of "牛" is "bull."

As the name indicates, the word "牛角" was derived from "bull's horns."

The thing is, left and right horns of a bull have almost the same length and size, so "牛角" came to mean something like "equivalent."

Note that the other kanji "互角" has been used since the Muromachi period, and "牛角" is no longer used now.

If you write as "牛角," it will be read as "gyu kaku" in most cases, which indicates a kind of Japanese yakiniku (roasted meat) restaurants.

互角

今日は「互角」という日本の一般的な単語を紹介します。

「互角」は、互いの力量に差がなく、優劣をつけにくいことを意味します。

この言葉はもともと「牛角」と表記されており、文字通り「牛の角」に由来します。

牛の角は左右ともに、長短・大小の差がないため、「牛角」と書いて「同等」という意味を持つようになったというわけです。

室町時代以降に「互角」という漢字が使われるようになり、現在では「同等」の意味で「牛角」は使われません。

現代の日本で「牛角」と書くと、それはほとんどの場合、焼肉レストランチェーンの「牛角（ぎゅうかく）」を指すことになります。