Does "sekiro" mean one-armed wolf? how?


At first I should say that I know nothing about the Japanese language but I
find it fascinating. A few years ago I started playing the amazing video game
"sekiro:shadows die twice". Since then, there was always this question in my
mind: What does the word "sekiro" mean?

Just for context, the main character in the game is called "wolf" if you play
the game in English. If you play in Japanese, he's called 狼 (Ōkami) which
seems to be the Japanese word for "wolf". No problem till now!

But in the beginning of the game, the character loses one of his arms, and
later in the game another character gives him the nickname "sekiro" because he
is a one-armed wolf. That would suggest that somehow the word "sekiro" would
mean one-armed wolf in Japanese. And people all over the internet just say
that it does. But I can't really wrap my head around it because as I said the
Japanese word for "wolf" is something completely different and the Japanese
word for "one" seems to be "一" (Ichi).

There is also another character in the game which also only has one arm and is
sometimes referred to as "orangutan" and is sometimes called "sekijo" in
Japanese. So it seems that somehow "seki" means someone with only one arm and
"ro" and "jo" somehow mean "wolf" and "orangutan" but none of it sound right
to me. Why can't I find these words if they actually have those translations?

What am I missing? Can anyone explain what's going on here? Thanks




In Japanese, most kanji usually have several readings, which are divided
between readings of original Japanese words (kunyomi), and readings that come
from the pronunciation of Chinese compound words that were imported at some
point into Japanese (onyomi).

Usually, words formed by a single kanji take the kunyomi reading, such as the
case of Wolf (狼 Ōkami), and words composed by several kanji use the onyomi
reading. This is not a hard rule at all, but the general trend.

Note that the name Sekirō is written 隻狼, so it **does** have the kanji for
wolf in it, but it is read with a different, Chinese reading. [This
page](https://ag.hyperxgaming.com/article/7266/what-does-sekiro-mean-in-
sekiro-shadows-die-twice) explains the meaning of the word according to both
kanjis. I quote the relevant part here:

> The name Sekiro (隻狼) is comprised of two kanji, Chinese characters adopted
> by the Japanese in the fifth century. The first kanji, Seki (隻), refers to
> one part of a pair, and is likely a shortening of Sekiwan (隻腕), meaning one
> arm, or a one-armed person. The second kanji, Rō (狼), means wolf, and is
> read as Ōkami on its own (detached from other kanji). It seems likely then
> that Sekiro (隻狼) is in fact a shortening of Sekiwan no Ōkami (隻腕の狼), or one
> armed wolf.

Regarding
[Sekijo](https://sekiroshadowsdietwice.wiki.fextralife.com/Sculptor):

> The Sculptor is referred to as "Sekijo," by Hanbei The Undying—a name that
> was likely given to him in much the same way Isshin of Ashina gave Sekiro
> his name. The Sculptor is also known as Orangutan (猩々, Shoujou), just as
> Sekiro is known as Wolf (狼, Ookami); Isshin gives Sekiro his name by
> condensing One-armed Wolf (隻腕の狼, Sekiwan no Ookami) into Sekiro (隻狼,
> Sekirou), while Hanbei does the same for the Sculptor, who is also one-
> armed, by condensing One-armed Orangutan (隻腕の猩々, Sekiwan no Shoujou) into
> Sekijo (隻猩, Sekijou).




In Japanese, most kanji usually have several readings, which are divided
between readings of original Japanese words (kunyomi), and readings that come
from the pronunciation of Chinese compound words that were imported at some
point into Japanese (onyomi).

Usually, words formed by a single kanji take the kunyomi reading, such as the
case of Wolf (狼 Ōkami), and words composed by several kanji use the onyomi
reading. This is not a hard rule at all, but the general trend.

Note that the name Sekirō is written 隻狼, so it **does** have the kanji for
wolf in it, but it is read with a different, Chinese reading. [This
page](https://ag.hyperxgaming.com/article/7266/what-does-sekiro-mean-in-
sekiro-shadows-die-twice) explains the meaning of the word according to both
kanjis. I quote the relevant part here:

> The name Sekiro (隻狼) is comprised of two kanji, Chinese characters adopted
> by the Japanese in the fifth century. The first kanji, Seki (隻), refers to
> one part of a pair, and is likely a shortening of Sekiwan (隻腕), meaning one
> arm, or a one-armed person. The second kanji, Rō (狼), means wolf, and is
> read as Ōkami on its own (detached from other kanji). It seems likely then
> that Sekiro (隻狼) is in fact a shortening of Sekiwan no Ōkami (隻腕の狼), or one
> armed wolf.

Regarding
[Sekijo](https://sekiroshadowsdietwice.wiki.fextralife.com/Sculptor):

> The Sculptor is referred to as "Sekijo," by Hanbei The Undying—a name that
> was likely given to him in much the same way Isshin of Ashina gave Sekiro
> his name. The Sculptor is also known as Orangutan (猩々, Shoujou), just as
> Sekiro is known as Wolf (狼, Ookami); Isshin gives Sekiro his name by
> condensing One-armed Wolf (隻腕の狼, Sekiwan no Ookami) into Sekiro (隻狼,
> Sekirou), while Hanbei does the same for the Sculptor, who is also one-
> armed, by condensing One-armed Orangutan (隻腕の猩々, Sekiwan no Shoujou) into
> Sekijo (隻猩, Sekijou).

