| wolf | a legendary wolf; distressed; wretched | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| trad. (狼狽) | 狼 | 狽 | |
| simp. (狼狈) | 狼 | 狈 | |
| alternative forms | |||
An Old Chinese ideophone of the phonetic shape /*raːd(s) paːd(s) ~ *raːŋ paːd(s)/ (ZS), initially used to describe a limping or stumbling gait.
Folk etymology (as used by Tang-Dynasty Duan Chengshi) states that 狽／狈 (bèi) was a wolf-like animal in Chinese mythology, which had very short forelegs and long hind legs, and needed to mount a wolf in order to walk, so the two animals would always hunt together. This eventually led to the meaning of “to conspire”.
狼狽
狼狽
狼狽
狼狽
| Kanji in this term | |
|---|---|
| 狼 | 狽 |
| ろう Jinmeiyō |
ばい Hyōgaiji |
| on’yomi | |
狼狽する • (rōbai suru) suru (stem 狼狽し (rōbai shi), past 狼狽した (rōbai shita))
| Katsuyōkei ("stem forms") | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mizenkei ("imperfective") | 狼狽し | ろうばいし | rōbai shi | |
| Ren’yōkei ("continuative") | 狼狽し | ろうばいし | rōbai shi | |
| Shūshikei ("terminal") | 狼狽する | ろうばいする | rōbai suru | |
| Rentaikei ("attributive") | 狼狽する | ろうばいする | rōbai suru | |
| Kateikei ("hypothetical") | 狼狽すれ | ろうばいすれ | rōbai sure | |
| Meireikei ("imperative") | 狼狽せよ¹ 狼狽しろ² |
ろうばいせよ¹ ろうばいしろ² |
rōbai seyo¹ rōbai shiro² | |
| Key constructions | ||||
| Passive | 狼狽される | ろうばいされる | rōbai sareru | |
| Causative | 狼狽させる 狼狽さす |
ろうばいさせる ろうばいさす |
rōbai saseru rōbai sasu | |
| Potential | 狼狽できる | ろうばいできる | rōbai dekiru | |
| Volitional | 狼狽しよう | ろうばいしよう | rōbai shiyō | |
| Negative | 狼狽しない | ろうばいしない | rōbai shinai | |
| Negative continuative | 狼狽せず | ろうばいせず | rōbai sezu | |
| Formal | 狼狽します | ろうばいします | rōbai shimasu | |
| Perfective | 狼狽した | ろうばいした | rōbai shita | |
| Conjunctive | 狼狽して | ろうばいして | rōbai shite | |
| Hypothetical conditional | 狼狽すれば | ろうばいすれば | rōbai sureba | |
| ¹ Written imperative ² Spoken imperative | ||||