言う
Japanese
[edit]| Kanji in this term |
|---|
| 言 |
| い Grade: 2 |
| kun'yomi |
| Alternative spellings |
|---|
| 謂う 云う (literary) 曰う 道う |
Etymology
[edit]/ipu/ → /iɸu/ → /*iwu/ → /iu/ → /juː/
From Old Japanese,[1] from Proto-Japonic *ipu. Compare Korean 입 (ip, “mouth”).
Medial /p/ regularly changed from [p] → [ɸ] → [w]. Japanese never distinguished between /wu/ and /u/, so that automatically becomes [u]. The /w/ only surfaces in the negative form of iwanai, where the phoneme sequence /wa/ exists. Surface forms /iwimasu/ and /iwemasu/ automatically became /iimasu/ and /iemasu/ since Japanese no longer distinguishes /wi, we/ from /i, e/.
Pronunciation
[edit](careful speech):
- Tokyo pitch accent of conjugated forms of 「言う」more ▼
Verb
[edit]言う or 言う • (iu or yuu) ←いふ (ifu)?transitive godan (stem 言い (ii), past 言った (itta))
- to say, to tell somebody quotations ▼
- to call, to name, to give a name
quotations ▼
- この動物は日本語で何と言いますか。
- Kono dōbutsu wa nihongo de nan to iimasu ka.
- What do you call this animal in Japanese?
- ピリオドは、stopやfull stopともいい、平叙文・命令文の終わりに付ける。[1]
- Piriodo wa, sutoppu ya furu sutoppu to mo ii, heijobun meireibun no owari ni tsukeru.
- A period, also called a stop or full stop, attaches to the end of a declarative or imperative sentence.
- この動物は日本語で何と言いますか。
- to cry, to call, to make a noise (such as an animal)
- ニャーニャー言う猫
- nyānyā iu neko
- a mewing cat
- ニャーニャー言う猫
Usage notes
[edit]As a transitive verb, this can take the usual accusative particle を (o) after the object of the verb. However, it is much more common to see this with the quotative particle と (to) instead.
Compared to other verbs such as 喋る (shaberu), 話す (hanasu) and 語る (kataru), which refer specifically to speaking, this verb is abstract, and sometimes used like a copula, as in そういう, ああいう, こういう, っていうこと.[3]
Idioms
[edit]- 言う迄もない (iu made mo nai): it goes without saying
- 言うに及ばず (iu ni oyobazu): it goes without saying; it isn't easy to say (not reaching the point of being easily expressed)
- 言うに足らず (iu ni tarazu): it isn't worth bringing up; it isn't easy to say (not sufficiently clear, not easily expressible)
- 言わん方無し (iwan kata nashi): no way of saying it
- 言わぬが花 (iwanu ga hana): “not saying it, is a flower” → it would be better to leave it unsaid
- 言わずもがな (iwazu mo gana): “not even saying would be preferable” (either because it is already known and doesn't need saying, or because not expressing it at all would be better)
- あっと言う間 (a' to iu ma): "the time it takes to say ah" (the blink of an eye)
- あっと言わせる (a' to iwaseru, “to startle someone”)
Conjugation
[edit]Synonyms
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
- ↑ Jump up to: 2.0 2.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
- ^ 精選版 日本国語大辞典 [Selected edition: unabridged Japanese language dictionary] (in Japanese), Shogakukan, 2005
- Horiuchi, Hideaki with Ken Akiyama (1997) Taketori Monogatari, Ise Monogatari, Tōkyō: Iwanami Shoten, →ISBN
- Takeuchi, Rizō (1962) Nara Ibun: Volume 3 (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Tōkyōdō Shuppan, →ISBN.
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