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口実 noun: excuse; pretext

Literally translated it seems to mean mouth-truth. Most excuses seem to avoid
the truth, so what is the logic here?
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words
How is the Kanji of 口実 related to the meaning?
Nice question! From [the entry](http://gogen-allguide.com/ko/koujitsu.html) in
the 語源由来辞典{ごげんゆらいじてん} for 口実{こうじつ}, it appears that 口実{こうじつ} used to mean
something like "to have one's mouth full of food or words" _(but since Heian
times, this word is typically referring more to "words" rather than food._ )

And ever since the Heian period, 口実{こうじつ} has come to mean something more
like: "to unreasonably try to put truth into empty words".

It would then make sense how an excuse could be nothing but many empty words
in one's mouth.
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The kanji 実 means other things besides just "truth". Take a look at the old
form 實, or the older forms on
[chineseetymology.org](http://www.chineseetymology.org/CharacterEtymology.aspx?characterInput=%E5%AF%A6).
You can see three distinct components:

  * A _roof_ 宀, symbolizing a _building_
  * A _crop field_ 田 (sometimes written with extra dots to show that it is _full of crops_ )
  * A _shell_ 貝 symbolizing _money, value_ (of the crops)

Here's how Henshall explains these elements in _A Guide to Remembering
Japanese Characters_ :

> [This character] originally referred to a house made prosperous through
> bumper crops. The idea of house has now disappeared, leaving such meanings
> as **crop** , **fullness** , **substance** , **ripen** , and by extension
> **bear fruit** and **reality**. Unusually, the semi-abstract idea of bumper
> crop was also extended to the physical crop, giving **fruit** , **nut** ,
> etc.

So as you can see, you can't simply assume 実 means "truth". In this case, the
relevant meaning is "fullness", and the literal meaning of 口実 is "full mouth".
As explained by [gogen-online](http://gogen-allguide.com/ko/koujitsu.html),
there are two things a mouth could be full of--either food or drink, or words
--and 口実 came to refer to words directly, and specifically to excuses.
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