昨日
Chinese
Pronunciation 1
| yesterday | day; sun; date day; sun; date; day of the month; Japan (abbrev.) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| simp. and trad. (昨日) |
昨 | 日 | |
| anagram | 日昨 | ||
Synonyms
Descendants
Pronunciation 2
| yesterday | day; sun; date day; sun; date; day of the month; Japan (abbrev.) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| simp. and trad. (昨日) |
昨 | 日 | |
| alternative forms | 佐日 | ||
| anagram | 日昨 | ||
Noun
昨日
Synonyms
Japanese
Etymology 1
| Kanji in this term | |
|---|---|
| 昨 | 日 |
| きのう | |
| Grade: 4 | Grade: 1 |
| jukujikun | |
/ki no pu/ → /kinoɸu/ → */kinowu/ → /kinou/ → /kinoː/
From Old Japanese, ultimately from Proto-Japonic *kinəpu.
The initial ki is unclear, but is likely the same ki element that appears in other words pertaining to the past. This may be related to the now-obsolete auxiliary verb き (ki) indicating the recollective past -- see けり (keri). The middle no appears to be the regular genitive particle の (no). The final pu is an apophonic form of 日 (hi, “day”),[1] also found in 今日 (kepu→kyō, “today”).
Martin suggests that the initial ki might also be related to Old Japanese 來 (ku, “to come”), modern 来る (kuru),[2] presumably via the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of ki. However, this is problematic both semantically, as "the coming day" would presumably refer to tomorrow rather than yesterday; and grammatically, as a verb modifying a noun would be expected to conjugate into the regular attributive form (for 來 (ku) that would be kuru), rather than into the continuative form that then necessitates a particle.
The kanji are orthographic borrowing from Chinese 昨日 (zuórì).
Pronunciation
Noun
Etymology 2
| Kanji in this term | |
|---|---|
| 昨 | 日 |
| さく Grade: 4 |
じつ Grade: 1 |
| kan’on | |
From Middle Chinese compound 昨日 (dzak nyit, literally “yesterday + day ”). Compare modern Cantonese reading zok6 jat6.
Etymology 3
| Kanji in this term | |
|---|---|
| 昨 | 日 |
| きそ | |
| Grade: 4 | Grade: 1 |
| jukujikun | |
| Alternative spelling |
|---|
| 昨夜 |
From Old Japanese. The initial ki is unclear, but is likely the same ki element that appears in other words pertaining to the past. This may be related to the now-obsolete auxiliary verb き (ki) indicating the recollective past -- see けり (keri). The final so is also unclear, but is probably the same as the final zo in 去年 (kozo).[1]
This may have been read as kizo in Old Japanese.[1][4]
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [kʲiso̞]
Coordinate terms
- 一昨々日 (sakiototoi): three days ago
- 一昨日 (ototoi): the day before yesterday, two days ago
- 今日 (kyō): today
- 明日 (ashita): tomorrow
- 明後日 (asatte): the day after tomorrow, two days from now
- 明々後日 (shiasatte): three days from now
- 弥の明後日 (yanoasatte): three days from now; (dialectal) four days from now
- 今朝 (kesa): this morning
- 今晩 (konban): this evening
- 今夜 (kon'ya): tonight
| 時 (“Time”) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ~ | -2 | -1 | 0 | +1 | +2 | Continual | |
| Day | 日 | 一昨日 | 昨日 | 今日 | 明日 | 明後日 | 毎日 |
| Morning | 朝 | 一昨朝 | 昨朝 | 今朝 | 明朝 | — | 毎朝 |
| Night | 晩 | 一昨晩 | 昨晩 | 今晩 | 明晩 | — | 毎晩 |
| Week | 週 | 先々週 | 先週 | 今週 | 来週 | 再来週 | 毎週 |
| Month | 月 | 先々月 | 先月 | 今月 | 来月 | 再来月 | 毎月 |
| Year | 年 | 一昨年 | 去年 | 今年 | 来年 | 再来年 | 毎年 |
References
- 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
- Martin, Samuel E. (1987) The Japanese Language Through Time, New Haven, London: Yale University Press, →ISBN, page 451
- 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, →ISBN
- 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