寂しい

Japanese

Alternative forms

Etymology

Kanji in this term
寂
さみ
Grade: S
kun’yomi
Kanji in this term
寂
さび
Grade: S
kun’yomi

From Old Japanese. First attested as sabusi in the Man'yōshū, completed sometime around 759 CE.[1]

Generally thought to derive from 荒ぶ (sabu, “to be desolate, to be lonely”), cognate with 錆びる (sabiru, “to rust, to get old”, intransitive).[2][3][4]

In early modern times, some dialects shift in reading from /-b-/ to /-m-/, thus creating samishii; similar to 頭 (tsuburi, tsumuri, “head”), in which tsuburi changes to tsumuri, and 煙 (keburi, kemuri, “smoke”), in which keburi changes to kemuri.[4][5]

Pronunciation

  • Tokyo pitch accent of inflected forms of "寂しい"
Source: Online Japanese Accent Dictionary
Stem forms
Continuative (連用形) 寂しく さび​しく
さびし​く
[sàbíꜜshìkù]
[sàbíshíꜜkù]
Terminal (終止形) 寂しい さびし​い [sàbíshíꜜì]
Attributive (連体形) 寂しい さびし​い [sàbíshíꜜì]
Key constructions
Informal negative 寂しくない さび​しくない
さびし​くない
[sàbíꜜshìkùnàì]
[sàbíshíꜜkùnàì]
Informal past 寂しかった さび​しかった
さびし​かった
[sàbíꜜshìkàttà]
[sàbíshíꜜkàttà]
Informal negative past 寂しくなかった さび​しくなかった
さびし​くなかった
[sàbíꜜshìkùnàkàttà]
[sàbíshíꜜkùnàkàttà]
Formal 寂しいです さびし​いです [sàbíshíꜜìdèsù]
Conjunctive 寂しくて さび​しくて
さびし​くて
[sàbíꜜshìkùtè]
[sàbíshíꜜkùtè]
Conditional 寂しければ さび​しければ
さびし​ければ
[sàbíꜜshìkèrèbà]
[sàbíshíꜜkèrèbà]

Adjective

寂(さび)しい or 寂(さみ)しい • (sabishii or samishii) -i (adverbial 寂(さび)しく (sabishiku))

  1. lonely
  2. desolate
  3. depressing, sad
    そんな寂(さみ)しいこと言(い)うなよ。
    Sonna samishii koto iu na yo.
    Don't say such sad things.
    推(お)しの卒業(そつぎょう)が寂(さみ)しい
    oshi no sotsugyō ga samishii
    The stan's graduation is depressing

Inflection

  • さびしい
  • さびし (Classical Japanese)
  • さみしい

References

  1. National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics (2020), “Old Japanese sabusi”, in Oxford-NINJAL Corpus of Old Japanese‎
  2. “寂しい”, in デジタル大辞泉 (Dejitaru Daijisen)‎ (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, updated roughly every four months
  3. “さぶし”, in デジタル大辞泉 (Dejitaru Daijisen)‎ (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, updated roughly every four months
  4. 寂しい/淋しい/さびしい/さみしい - Gogen Yurai Jiten (in Japanese)
  5. Martin, Samuel E. (1987) The Japanese Language Through Time, New Haven, London: Yale University Press, →ISBN
  6. 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.