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Un dossard est un morceau de tissu qui identifie les sportifs dans un marathon:

dossard

Comment dire ça en japonais ?

日本語では、フランス語の「dossard」と同じ意味の言葉がありますか？
In Japanese, is there an equivalent for the French word dossard?

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( this question is also a test for meta.japanese.stackexchange.com/q/22 ) – Nicolas Raoul Feb 25 '12 at 5:57
You've tried katakanizing the word, and googling for it, right? – Andrew Grimm Feb 25 '12 at 6:30
@AndrewGrimm: no relevant results for encrypted.google.com/search?q=%E3%83%89%E3%82%B5%E3%83%BC – Nicolas Raoul Feb 25 '12 at 6:44
I think it is difficult for this site to cope with so many languages. (Since the primary user base is English-speaking) – Flaw Feb 25 '12 at 6:53
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Regarding that discussion on meta: I don't really see any consensus pointing at accepting questions in languages other than English or Japanese. I don't have a very strong opinion, but I think it's pretty established that these are the two only viable language options for the site (beside, the name is "Japanese Language and Usage", not "Langue et Usage du Japonais" ;-). – Dave♦ Feb 25 '12 at 7:20

3 Answers

up vote 2 down vote accepted

I don't know French and am guessing from the result of what English websites say about it. If my understanding is correct, the Japanese counterpart is ゼッケン.

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I think this is more a matter of English<->French translation than anything else. Once you know that the English word for 'dossard' is 'bib', then WWWJDIC gives you:

ゼッケン (n) cloth bib with number or logo worn by athletes, etc. (e.g. over their shirts) (ger: Decken)

:-)

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I was about to ask in English but Wiktionary does not say "bib" for "dossard" so there might be some English subtleties I am not getting. Also, a Google Images search for "bib" shows NOT A SINGLE image of what I am looking for: google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=bib – Nicolas Raoul Feb 25 '12 at 7:45
@Nicolas: that's because 'bib' can mean many things depending on context :-) For instance here: google.com/… – Dave♦ Feb 25 '12 at 10:37
For the record, I wasn't questioning the use of the word 'dossard', but rather the fact that the entire question (and particularly title) was written in French and therefore perhaps not very accessible to the readership of this site. – Dave♦ Feb 25 '12 at 10:41
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I don't know about you, but I would never call that bit of cloth assigning a number to a marathon runner a "bib". To me, a "bib" is a small apron worn by small children to protect their clothing at mealtime. – Karl Knechtel Feb 25 '12 at 11:59
up vote 1 down vote

You might be looking for this word: 背番号 （せばんごう）(se-ban-gou)

Here is more information about this word.

ゼッケン also might work... but at the top of the Wikipedia page for ゼッケン, it says to see the article on 背番号 for athletic competitors:

(競技選手がつける番号の意味合いについては「背番号」をご覧ください。).

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背番号 is more likely the number printed on the back of an athlete's jersey than on a removable cloth. – Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams Feb 25 '12 at 15:25
Good point; the difference between front and back... :) – summea Feb 25 '12 at 17:41

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