馬脚

• 読み: ばきゃく
• ローマ字: bakyaku
• 漢字の分解: 馬 (ba/uma) — horse; 脚 (kyaku/ashi) — leg, foot, base
• 発音: /bakʲakɯ/

意味

True colours; a hidden flaw; inadvertent self-betrayal. The unintended revelation of one's true nature or a carefully concealed deficiency.

Almost always used in the set expression 馬脚を露す (to reveal one's true colours, literally 'to expose the horse's legs'). The phrase comes from kabuki theatre, where actors playing horses occasionally revealed their legs beneath the costume. Implies the awkward, involuntary exposure of something one tried to hide.

例文

1. 完璧に見えた計画も、実行段階で馬脚を露した。
2. 冷静を装っていた彼も、批判を受けて馬脚を露すことになった。
3. いかに上手く偽装しても、長続きすれば必ず馬脚が出るものだ。

使い方ガイド

場面: politics, business, literature, idiom

トーン: ironic

起源と歴史

From kabuki theatre — actors playing horses (馬, uma) sometimes had their legs (脚, kyaku/ashi) visible beneath the costume, inadvertently destroying the illusion. The phrase 馬脚を露す became a metaphor for unintentional self-exposure.

文化的背景

時代: Classical

世代: Adults

社会的背景: Universal