凄まじい
Japanese
| Kanji in this term |
|---|
| 凄 |
| すさ Grade: S |
| kun'yomi |
Etymology
From Old Japanese. First cited in the Nihon Shoki of 720.[1]
Derived from verb 荒む (susamu, “to grow wild, to fall into ruin, to go to waste; to lose force and cease (such as wind or rain); to become absorbed in doing something; to grow old and weak”),[1][2] possibly from the causative form 荒ます (susamasu). May be cognate with the susa element in the name of the Shinto god, Susanoo-no-Mikoto.
The term initially evoked senses of desolate, depressing in reference to people or emotions, and desolate, wild, chilly in reference to natural phenomena. Usage then shifted to a focus on frightful, terrible, extreme during the Kamakura and Muromachi periods (1100s–1500s).[1][2]
The adjective appears initially without voicing on the last element, as susamashi in the terminal form.[1][2] The voicing appears from roughly the Kamakura period (late 1100s–early 1300s), with both unvoiced susamashi and voiced susamaji appearing in free variation until the late 1500s.[2]
Pronunciation
Adjective
凄まじい • (susamajii) -i (adverbial 凄まじく (susamajiku))
Inflection
| Stem forms | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Imperfective (未然形) | 凄まじかろ | すさまじかろ | susamajikaro |
| Continuative (連用形) | 凄まじく | すさまじく | susamajiku |
| Terminal (終止形) | 凄まじい | すさまじい | susamajii |
| Attributive (連体形) | 凄まじい | すさまじい | susamajii |
| Hypothetical (仮定形) | 凄まじけれ | すさまじけれ | susamajikere |
| Imperative (命令形) | 凄まじかれ | すさまじかれ | susamajikare |
| Key constructions | |||
| Informal negative | 凄まじくない | すさまじくない | susamajiku nai |
| Informal past | 凄まじかった | すさまじかった | susamajikatta |
| Informal negative past | 凄まじくなかった | すさまじくなかった | susamajiku nakatta |
| Formal | 凄まじいです | すさまじいです | susamajii desu |
| Formal negative | 凄まじくないです | すさまじくないです | susamajiku nai desu |
| Formal past | 凄まじかったです | すさまじかったです | susamajikatta desu |
| Formal negative past | 凄まじくなかったです | すさまじくなかったです | susamajiku nakatta desu |
| Conjunctive | 凄まじくて | すさまじくて | susamajikute |
| Conditional | 凄まじければ | すさまじければ | susamajikereba |
| Provisional | 凄まじかったら | すさまじかったら | susamajikattara |
| Volitional | 凄まじかろう | すさまじかろう | susamajikarō |
| Adverbial | 凄まじく | すさまじく | susamajiku |
| Degree | 凄まじさ | すさまじさ | susamajisa |
| Stem forms | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Irrealis (未然形) | 凄まじく[1] 凄まじから[2] |
すさまじく すさまじから |
susamaziku susamazikara |
| Continuative (連用形) | 凄まじく[1] 凄まじかり[2] |
すさまじく すさまじかり |
susamaziku susamazikari |
| Terminal (終止形) | 凄まじ | すさまじ | susamazi |
| Attributive (連体形) | 凄まじき 凄まじかる |
すさまじき すさまじかる |
susamaziki susamazikaru |
| Realis (已然形) | 凄まじけれ | すさまじけれ | susamazikere |
| Imperative (命令形) | 凄まじかれ | すさまじかれ | susamazikare |
| Key constructions | |||
| Negative | 凄まじからず | すさまじからず | susamazikarazu |
| Contrasting conjunction | 凄まじけれど | すさまじけれど | susamazikeredo |
| Causal conjunction | 凄まじければ | すさまじければ | susamazikereba |
| Conditional conjunction | 凄まじくば | すさまじくば | susamazikuba |
| Past tense (firsthand knowledge) | 凄まじかりき | すさまじかりき | susamazikariki |
| Past tense (secondhand knowledge) | 凄まじかりけり | すさまじかりけり | susamazikarikeri |
| Adverbial | 凄まじく | すさまじく | susamaziku |
[1]Without auxiliary verb.
[2]With auxiliary verb.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Shōgaku Tosho (1988), 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
- ^ NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN
- “△凄まじい”, in 漢字ぺディア [Kanjipedia][1] (in Japanese), The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 2015–2026