Yamabiko
/ˌjɑː.məˈbiː.koʊ/noun
In Japanese folklore, a mountain spirit or the echo it is believed to cause.
Did you know?In Japanese folklore, yamabiko was long treated as a supernatural being behind echoes, so the landscape itself was imagined as speaking with a hidden voice.
Etymological Timeline
Old Japanese / Classical Japanese
Japanese
yamabiko
“a mountain echo; a mountain spirit associated with echoes”
Edo period
Japanese
山彦
“written with Chinese characters meaning "mountain" + "echo" and used in folklore and literature”
19th-20th Century
Japanese
やまびこ
“standardized modern reading in Japanese, still referring to the folkloric echo/spirit”
Modern English
English
yamabiko
“a borrowed term used in English-language writing about Japanese folklore”