披露 (hirō: introduction) to reveal + to expose
母の兄弟に披露するために、披露宴をやった。
Haha no kyōdai ni hirō suru tame ni, hirōen o yatta.
In order to introduce (the bride) to my mother’s siblings, they had a wedding reception.母 (haha: mother)
兄弟 (kyōdai: siblings)
older brother + younger brother
披露宴 (hirōen: (wedding) reception)
to reveal + to expose + banquetA banquet! That’s one of the few times 女 (woman) takes part in a kanji with a positive meaning (in this case, 宴). Brimming with excitement, I turned to Henshall to find out how this kanji came into existence. Alas, I shouldn’t have been so excited. The top part,
, means “roof.” The rest is a defunct character; combining “sun” or “bright” (日) with woman (女) yielded “dazzling woman.” This served as a euphemistic reference to prostitutes! So 宴 referred to a house of prostitutes, and by association that led to “banquet.” Hmph.
