琴 is a feminine given name documented in Japanese and Chinese. English Wiktionary traces it to Old Japanese. Its character means “koto” (KANJIDIC2).
4 source accounts
Old Japanese origin
Source-reported
Meaning: “koto”
⟨ko₂to₂⟩ → */kətə/ → /koto/ From Old Japanese, attested in the three major literature works of the Nara period: the Kojiki (712 CE), the Nihon Shoki (720 CE), and the Man'yōshū (c. 759 CE). Possibly derived from a compound of elements 木 (ko, “tree, wood”, combining form) + 音 (oto, “sound”), with the additional medial o dropped by haplology.
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Wiktionary text: CC BY-SA 4.0. Wikidata: CC0. Commons recordings retain their individual file licences. Complete attribution is available in each group above and alongside each chart.
