Where does “小道具” come from?

小道具 (Japanese) comes from Japanese 小, from Old Japanese ささ.

小道具 (Japanese): tool; a hand tool; gadget; prop; stage property

Definitions

  1. tool; a hand tool; gadget; prop; stage property

Ancestry of “小道具”, step by step

小道具 traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via Japanese

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanesesmallness; small size, small; Short for 小の月;...
2Old Japaneseささ

via Japanese 道具

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese道具tool; a means, something used to perform an...
Every word from Old Japanese ささEvery word from Japanese