Hi, I would really like to understand the etymology of this work. I’ve looked up the parts on [jisho.org](https://jisho.org/), but I still don’t understand how
助 (kun reading: すけ) (= assistance/helper/help or colloquially babe/chick/broad)
and 平 (on reading: へい) (= even/flat/peace)
came to mean “lewdness” or “pervert”. The connection to “babe” could imply that the word is used more for female perverts?? Any educated guesses/ideas or even better fact based knowledge?
^((FYI: My post got removed on the “LearnJapanese” sub for being too simple, I think this sub is the next best one for this language-related question.))
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Understand [ateji](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ateji). In many cases kanji has nothing to do with the meaning.
Edit: According to [this page](https://crd.ndl.go.jp/reference/modules/d3ndlcrdentry/index.php?page=ref_view&id=1000083506) 助平 is an alteration of 好き兵衛 *sukibee*, 好き denoting “fond (of women)” + 兵衛, a male name ending which used to be common in older days.
Apparently it comes from Suki (like, love). Someone started calling people who like erotic stuff Sukibei (-bei is common in old-fashioned names), which later turned into Sukebei, and then Sukebe
I thought it came from スケベ椅子 or did that come after…
u/JunjiItosCats answered the post in r/LearnJapanese before it was removed (I saw it afterwards), I’ll copy-paste his answer:
“During the Edo period, すけべ just kind of meant “someone who likes things” stemming from すき. The same way the のんべ from のむ (to drink) is “someone who likes to drink.” Over time, it just kind if shifted to mean someone who likes… “certain” things. Like sex. Hence the association with “pervert” or “Someone who likes perverted things.”
note that there is also an /r/etymology subreddit fyi
From [this](https://gogen-yurai.jp/sukebe/) page:
「スケベは漢字で「助平」と書き、本来の読みは「すけべい」である。
「好き」を洒落て擬人化した「好兵衛（すきべえ）」が転じて「助平（すけべい）」となり、現代では「スケベ」と言うことが多くなった。
「すけべい」は江戸時代に上方で使われ始めた語で、主に男性に対して用いられていたが、江戸中期には女性に対しても使われるようになった。」
“Sukebe is written in kanji as 「助平」and was originally read as ‘sukebei.’
Suki was jokingly personified as Sukibei and got turned into 助平. These days it is widely said as sukebe.
It started being used during the Edo period in the Kamigata area (what is now the Kansai region), and was mainly used to talk about men, but during the middle of the Edo period it also started being used to talk about women.”
My translation probably isn’t perfect, but it gets the general idea.