お前
Japanese
    
    Etymology 1
    
| Kanji in this term | 
|---|
| 前 | 
| まえ Grade: 2 | 
| kun’yomi | 
| Alternative spelling | 
|---|
| 御前 | 
From 御 (o, honorific prefix) + 前 (mae, “front”), literally "honourable presence in front of me". Originally a polite pronoun applied to highly respected persons such as emperors or gods.[1][2]
First attested in the early 900s.[1]
Alternative forms
    
Pronoun
    
- [from early 900s] (informal, men's speech; or dialect) you
-  1915, Akutagawa Ryūnosuke, 羅生門 [Rashōmon]:- 己は檢非違使の廳の役人などではない。今し方この門の下を通りかゝつた旅の者だ。だからお前に繩をかけて、どうしようと云ふやうな事はない。- Ore wa kebiishi no chō no yakunin nado de wa nai. Imashigata kono mon no shita o tōrikakatta tabi no mono da. Dakara omae ni nawa o kakete, dō shiyō to iu yō na koto wa nai.
- I am not an official of law enforcement, but simply a traveller who's happened to come across this gate a few moments ago. I'm not here to bind you in ropes or any nonsense of the sort.
 
 
- 己は檢非違使の廳の役人などではない。今し方この門の下を通りかゝつた旅の者だ。だからお前に繩をかけて、どうしようと云ふやうな事はない。
 
-  
Usage notes
    
- Slightly condescending if used by a higher status peer to refer to a lower status peer, very informal between close equal-status peers; impolite in other situations.
- In many Japanese dialects, it is rather the standard 2nd-person pronoun, equivalent in usage to standard Japanese あなた (anata).
Derived terms
    
- お前さん (omaesan)
Pronoun
    
お前 or お前 • (omē or ome)
References
    
- 1988, 国語大辞典(新装版) (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
- 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
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