五月蝿い

Japanese
Kanji in this term
五 月 蝿
うるさ
Grade: 1 Grade: 1 Hyōgaiji
jukujikun
Alternative spelling
五月蠅い (kyūjitai)

Etymology

The spelling is a form of jukujikun (熟字訓), and is used in the novels of Natsume Soseki. The literal meaning of the spelling is 五月 (“May”, the month, normally read gogatsu) + 蝿 (“fly”, the insect, normally read hae) + い (i, a common adjective-forming suffix), from the way that annoying and noisy flies tend to swarm in May.[1]

Definitions
For pronunciation and definitions of 五月蝿い – see the following entry.
【うるさい】
[adjective] [late 900s – Kamakura period] overwhelmingly thorough (often in a positive way); excessive, repetitive (in a negative way)
[adjective] [from early 900s] (by extension from the "thorough" sense) so thoroughly knowledgeable and particular about something as to be annoying to others: picky, nitpicking, fussy
[adjective] [from late 900s] pushy, bossy, overly particular and demanding
[adjective] [early 1000s – ???] excellent of technique (particularly for a performance)
[adjective] [late 1100s – ???] extremely strained, faked, insincere, affected
[adjective] [from early 1100s] oppressive and annoying in a surrounding and overwhelming way
[adjective] noisy, loud
[adjective] annoying, irritating
[adjective] [from early 1900s] troublesome, bothersome, irksome (usually in reference to having to do something)
[adjective] [from early 1600s] dirty, messy, causing a bad feeling
[interjection] (figuratively) shut up; stop it
Alternative spellings
煩い, 五月蝿い
(This term, 五月蝿い, is an alternative (less common) spelling of the above term.)

References
  1. 1995, 大辞泉 (Daijisen) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
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