辛い

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Japanese

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
から
Grade: S
kun'yomi
Alternative spellings
鹹い
苛い

From Old Japanese. First attested in the Nihon Shoki of 720 CE.[1] From Proto-Japonic *kara.

Pronunciation

  • Tokyo pitch accent of inflected forms of 「辛い
Source: Online Japanese Accent Dictionary
Stem forms
Continuative (連用形) 辛く らく

Terminal (終止形) 辛い
Attributive (連体形) 辛い
Key constructions
Informal negative 辛くない らくない
くない

Informal past 辛かった らかった
かった

Informal negative past 辛くなかった らくなかった
くなかった

Formal 辛いです いです
Conjunctive 辛くて らくて
くて

Conditional 辛ければ らければ
ければ

Adjective

(から) (karai-i (adverbial (から) (karaku))

  1. spicy hot
    Synonym: スパイシー
  2. salty
    Synonyms: 塩辛い, しょっぱい
  3. (of alcohol) bitter, not sweet
  4. harsh
Inflection
Derived terms

See also

Basic tastes in Japanese · 味覚(みかく) (mikaku) (layout · text)
(あま) (amai) ()っぱい (suppai) (しょ)っぱい (shoppai) (にが​) (niga​i) (から​) (kara​i) 旨味(うまみ) (umami)

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
つら
Grade: S
kun'yomi

From Old Japanese. First attested in the Nihon Shoki of 720 CE.[3]

Pronunciation

  • Tokyo pitch accent of inflected forms of 「辛い
Source: Online Japanese Accent Dictionary
Stem forms
Continuative (連用形) 辛く らく
Terminal (終止形) 辛い らい

Attributive (連体形) 辛い らい
Key constructions
Informal negative 辛くない らくな
Informal past 辛かった かった
Informal negative past 辛くなかった らくなかった
Formal 辛いです いです
Conjunctive 辛くて くて
Conditional 辛ければ ければ

Adjective

(つら) (tsurai-i (adverbial (つら) (tsuraku))

  1. painful
Inflection

Etymology 3

The tsurai changes to zurai as an instance of rendaku (連濁).

Suffix

(づら) (-zurai-i (adverbial (づら) (-zuraku))

  1. difficult to, hard to
    一様(いちよう)文字(もじ)(ちい)さく()づらかったため
    ichiyō ni moji ga chīsaku yomizurakatta tame
    since the characters were uniformly small and hard to read
    (いっ)(けん)しただけじゃわかり(づら)
    ikken shita dake ja wakarizurai ga
    though it's hard to tell at first sight
Usage notes

Attaches to the continuative form (連用形) of a verb. Inflects like an -i adjective. Usually spelled in hiragana, with the kanji spelling usually reserved for formal contexts.

Inflection
Synonyms
Antonyms

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 から・い 【辛・苛・鹹】Paid subscription required”, in 日本国語大辞典 [Nihon Kokugo Daijiten]‎ (in Japanese), 2nd edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, 2000-2002, released online 2007, →ISBN, concise edition entry available here
  2. 2.0 2.1 Kindaichi, Kyōsuke et al., editors (1974), 新明解国語辞典 [Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten] (in Japanese), Second edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 つら・い 【辛】Paid subscription required”, in 日本国語大辞典 [Nihon Kokugo Daijiten]‎ (in Japanese), 2nd edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, 2000-2002, released online 2007, →ISBN, concise edition entry available here