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こと in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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Japanese
Etymology 1
From Old Japanese, from Proto-Japonic *kətə. Cognate with 言 (koto, “word”).
Pronunciation
Noun
こと • (koto)
- broadly, any abstract thing, affair, matter, or fact
- a thing, occasion, circumstances, detail, particular
- 昔の事。
- Mukashi no koto.
- Past things.
- 些細な事だ。
- Sasai na koto da.
- It is a trivial matter.
- いやしくもなすに足る事なら立派にやるだけの価値がある。
- Iyashiku mo nasu ni taru koto nara rippa ni yaru dake no kachi ga aru.
- If a thing is worth doing at all, it is worth doing well.
- お前のことが好きだ。
- Omae no koto ga suki da.
- I love you. (masculine speech)
- そんなことじゃない。
- Sonna koto ja nai.
- That's not what I mean.
- (literally, “It is not that kind of matter.”)
- そんなことはない。
- Sonna koto wa nai.
- That does not happen.
- (literally, “That kind of matter does not exist.”)
- act of (word used for the nominalization of verbs, adjectives, or phrases)
- ある程度まで私はあなたの言うことに賛成です。
- Aru teido made watashi wa anata no iu koto ni sansei desu.
- I agree with what you say to some extent.
- 考えること5分
- kangaeru koto go-fun
- The act of thinking five minutes
- (by extension) experience, having been or done (used with ある (aru, “have, possess”))
- 京都に行ったことが有りますか。
- Kyōto ni itta koto ga arimasu ka.
- Have you ever been to Kyoto?
- 彼は学校に遅刻することが有る。
- Kare wa gakkō ni chikoku suru koto ga aru.
- He is sometimes late for school.
- event of special importance: affair, something, incident, case, occurrence, trouble
- 大変なことが起こった。
- Taihen na koto ga okotta.
- A terrible accident occurred.
- business matters, affairs, business, work, duty
- 慌てて事を運ぶとミスをしますよ。
- Awatete koto o hakobu to misu o shimasu yo.
- You make mistakes if you do things in a hurry.
- Used as a nominalizer for precepts.
- ○○は各自持参のこと。
- ○○ Wa kakuji jisan no koto.
- Each brings their own X.
- ○○は正しく使用すること。
- ○○ Wa tadashiku shiyō suru koto.
- X is to be used properly.
- It is said that; I've heard that (used with とのこと)
- ○○は存在しないとのこと
- ○○ wa sonzai shinai to no koto
- X is said to not exist.
- 明日は晴れるとのことだ。
- Ashita wa hareru to no koto da.
- Apparently the weather will be fine tomorrow.
- Used to introduce aliases/stage names.
- こんまりこと近藤麻理恵
- konmari koto Kondō Marie
- Marie Kondo, also known as KonMari
Usage notes
- This term is often spelled in hiragana.
- こと (koto) is used for abstract things, such as an action or concept. 物 (mono) is used for more concrete things, such as physical objects.
- Besides ヿ, a hiragana abbreviation also exists,
, which is presently not in Unicode.
Idioms
Idioms containing
事 (koto)
- 事にしている (koto ni shite iru, “make a point of”)
- 事になる (koto ni naru, “it has been decided that”)
- 事とする (koto to suru, “designate something”)
- 事によると (koto ni yoru to, “depending on the circumstances”)
- 事が足りる (koto ga tariru, “be sufficient, answer the purpose”)
- 事を運ぶ (koto o hakubu, “proceed, go ahead”)
- 事を起こす (koto o okosu, “cause trouble”)
- 事を好む (koto o konomu, “revel in trouble and discord”)
- 事を分ける (koto o wakeru, “reason with a person”)
- 事を成し遂げる (koto o nashitogeru, “achieve a task”)
- 事と次第で (koto to shidai de, “under certain circumstances”)
- 事も無げ (koto mo nage, “careless”)
- 事である (koto de aru, “it is said, they say”)
- 事毎に (kotogoto ni, “in everything”)
- 明白な事 (meihaku na koto, “obvious fact”)
- 学校の事を話す (gakko no koto o hanasu, “speak about the school”)
- 考える事 (kangaeru koto, “what one thinks”)
- 永い事 (nagai koto, “for a long time”)
- 毎日の事 (mainichi no koto, “daily affairs”)
- どんな事が有っても (donna koto ga atte mo, “under any circumstances”)
Etymology 2
| For pronunciation and definitions of こと – see the following entry.
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(This term, こと (koto), is the hiragana spelling of the above term.)
For a list of all kanji read as こと, see Category:Japanese kanji read as こと.)
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Etymology 3
| For pronunciation and definitions of こと – see the following entry.
|
|
|
(This term, こと (koto), is the hiragana spelling of the above term.)
For a list of all kanji read as こと, see Category:Japanese kanji read as こと.)
|
Etymology 4
| For pronunciation and definitions of こと – see the following entry.
|
|
|
(This term, こと (koto), is the hiragana spelling of the above term.)
For a list of all kanji read as こと, see Category:Japanese kanji read as こと.)
|
References
- 諸橋轍次 (Morohashi Tetsuji), chief ed. 大漢和辞典 (Dai Kan-Wa Jiten, “Comprehensive Chinese–Japanese Dictionary”). 13 vols. 1955–1960. Revised and enlarged ed. 1984–1986. Tokyo: Taishukan.
