also: とくり
noun
sake bottle; tokkuri
A tall, slender bottle with a narrow mouth, traditionally ceramic, used for serving sake. Also used for soy sauce or vinegar.
おじいさんは徳利からおちょこに酒を注いだ。
The old man poured sake from the tokkuri into a small cup.
寒いから、今日は徳利を着てきた。
It's cold, so I wore a turtleneck today.
noun
non-swimmer; person who can't swim
Slang for someone who cannot swim, from the image of sinking straight down like a tokkuri bottle.
彼は徳利だから、海には入らない。
He's a non-swimmer, so he doesn't go into the ocean.
Kana spelling is common in everyday writing.
Older or dialectal reading; rarely used in modern standard Japanese.
The kanji 徳利 are ateji (phonetic) for the reading とっくり. The word originally referred to the sake bottle, and later extended to other meanings by metaphorical shape or behavior.