七転八起

Japanese
Kanji in this term
七 転 八 起
しち
Grade: 1		 てん
Grade: 3		 はち > はっ
Grade: 1		 き
Grade: 3
goon kan’on
Alternative spellings
七轉八起 (kyūjitai)
七顛八起

Etymology

Sinified or short form of 七転び八起き (nana korobi ya oki, literally “seven tumbles, eight stand ups”).[1]

“Seven tumbles” commonly refers to “a lot of troubles” while standing up eight times indicates “bear up and keep trying”.

Pronunciation
  • (Tokyo) しちてんは​っき [shìchítéń wáꜜkkì] (Nakadaka – [5])[1]
  • IPA(key): [ɕit͡ɕitẽ̞ɰ̃ ha̠k̚ʲkʲi]

Proverb

七(しち)転(てん)八(はっ)起(き) • (shichiten hakki) 

  1. an encouragement to keep going no matter how tough it is
  2. life has its ups and downs

Descendants
  • → Korean: 칠전팔기(七轉八起) (chiljeonpalgi)

Verb

七(しち)転(てん)八(はっ)起(き)する • (shichiten hakki suru) suru (stem 七(しち)転(てん)八(はっ)起(き)し (shichiten hakki shi), past 七(しち)転(てん)八(はっ)起(き)した (shichiten hakki shita))

  1. to stand up for oneself even in multiple instances of failure or in difficult situations

Conjugation
Conjugation of "七転八起する" (See Appendix:Japanese verbs.)
Katsuyōkei ("stem forms")
Mizenkei ("imperfective") 七転八起し しちてんはっきし shichiten hakki shi
Ren’yōkei ("continuative") 七転八起し しちてんはっきし shichiten hakki shi
Shūshikei ("terminal") 七転八起する しちてんはっきする shichiten hakki suru
Rentaikei ("attributive") 七転八起する しちてんはっきする shichiten hakki suru
Kateikei ("hypothetical") 七転八起すれ しちてんはっきすれ shichiten hakki sure
Meireikei ("imperative") 七転八起せよ¹
七転八起しろ²		 しちてんはっきせよ¹
しちてんはっきしろ²		 shichiten hakki seyo¹
shichiten hakki shiro²
Key constructions
Passive 七転八起される しちてんはっきされる shichiten hakki sareru
Causative 七転八起させる
七転八起さす		 しちてんはっきさせる
しちてんはっきさす		 shichiten hakki saseru
shichiten hakki sasu
Potential 七転八起できる しちてんはっきできる shichiten hakki dekiru
Volitional 七転八起しよう しちてんはっきしよう shichiten hakki shiyō
Negative 七転八起しない しちてんはっきしない shichiten hakki shinai
Negative continuative 七転八起せず しちてんはっきせず shichiten hakki sezu
Formal 七転八起します しちてんはっきします shichiten hakki shimasu
Perfective 七転八起した しちてんはっきした shichiten hakki shita
Conjunctive 七転八起して しちてんはっきして shichiten hakki shite
Hypothetical conditional 七転八起すれば しちてんはっきすれば shichiten hakki sureba
¹ Written imperative

² Spoken imperative

See also
  • 七(しち)転(てん)八(ばっ)倒(とう) (shichitenbattō)

References
  1. 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  1. 1995, 大辞泉 (Daijisen) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.