Where does “振り仮名” come from?

振り仮名 (Japanese) comes from Japanese 仮名, from Japanese 名, from Middle Chinese 名 — name.

振り仮名 (Japanese): smaller kana printed next to or above non-kana...

Definitions

  1. smaller kana printed next to or above non-kana...

Ancestry of “振り仮名”, step by step

振り仮名 traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via Japanese 仮名

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese仮名a category of Japanese syllabary scripts: kana; a...
2Japanesename; reputation; famous, great, noted
3Middle Chinesename

via Japanese 振り

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese振りswing; false pretense; pretending; setup line...
2Japanese振るto shake; to wave; to wag; to swing; to move...

Words derived from “振り仮名

Every word from Middle Chinese Every word from Japanese Every word from Japanese 仮名