手前
Japanese
    
    Etymology 1
    
| Kanji in this term | |
|---|---|
| 手 | 前 | 
| て Grade: 1 | まえ Grade: 2 | 
| kun’yomi | |
Compound of Old Japanese elements 手 (te, “hand”) + 前 (mae, “front”), originally meaning “that which is just in front of one's hand”.[1][2][3]
Noun
    
Pronoun
    
- (dated, humble, men's speech) I, me (who stands before you)
- (rare, informal, sometimes derogatory) you
Antonyms
    
- (distant): 奥 (oku)
Etymology 2
    
| Kanji in this term | |
|---|---|
| 手 | 前 | 
| て Grade: 1 | まえ > めえ Grade: 2 | 
| kun’yomi | |
Corruption of temae. The vowel shift emphasizes the confrontational sense of the term.[2][3] This flattening of diphthongs to monophthongs is characteristic of Tokyo's Shitamachi dialect. Compare おめえ (omē, from お前 (omae)), ねえ (nē, from ない), やべえ (yabē, from やばい (yabai)).
Pronoun
    
手前 • (temē)
- (vulgar, derogatory, men's speech) you, you son of a bitch, you bastard
- 手前、何しやがったんだ!- Temē, nani shiyagatta n da!
- You bastard, what did you do!?
 
 
- 手前、何しやがったんだ!
Usage notes
    
Usually spelled in hiragana as てめえ.
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
- 1997, 新明解国語辞典 (Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten), Fifth Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
- 2000, Jonathan Bunt, Gillian Hall, The Oxford Starter Japanese Dictionary, First Edition, New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN
 
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