ubasute

Etymology

From Japanese 姥捨て.

ubasute means A supposed former custom of Japan, whereby an infirm or elderly relative was left in some desolate place to die. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 82 out of 100.

Why “ubasute” is a great word

UBASUTE — [Noun] A legendary Japanese practice of senicide, whereby an elderly or infirm relative, often a woman, was abandoned in a desolate place to die. From Japanese 姥捨て (ubasute), from 姥 (uba, "old woman") + 捨て (sute, "abandoning, throwing away"). Unlike geronticide, a broad clinical term, or filial piety, its foundational ethical opposite, ubasute is a folktale of impossible choice and pragmatic shame. It is the laboring piggyback up the mountain, the final handful of rice in a cracked bowl, and the silence after the son's retreating footsteps—a story that measures the terrible cost of survival against the void left when duty is forsaken.

noun

A supposed former custom of Japan, whereby an infirm or elderly relative was left in some desolate place to die.