全然

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Chinese

all; whole; entire
all; whole; entire; every; complete
 
 adverbial suffix; ‑ly
trad. (全然) 全 然
simp. #(全然) 全 然

Pronunciation

Adverb

全然

  1. completely; entirely; utterly
    我對此事全然不知。 [MSC, trad.]
    我对此事全然不知。 [MSC, simp.]
    Wǒ duì cǐ shì quánrán bù zhī.
    I know absolutely nothing about this matter.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (全然):
  • → Japanese: 全然(ぜんぜん) (zenzen)
  • → Korean: 전연(全然) (jeonyeon)

Japanese

Kanji in this term
全 然
ぜん
Grade: 3 		ぜん
Grade: 4
goon kan'on

Alternative forms

Etymology

Orthographic borrowing from Chinese 全然 (quánrán) in the early 1800s from 白話小説 (hakuwa shōsetsu, literally “white-speech novels”), a genre using more colloquial styles, initially with furigana indicating a reading of まったく (mattaku, “completely”).[1]

First cited to a text from 1823, with the ぜんぜん (zenzen) reading became more common starting from the late 1890s.[1]

Pronunciation

Adverb

全(ぜん)然(ぜん) • (zenzen) 

  1. (not) at all (with negative verb)
    Synonym: (Hakata) いっちょん (itchon)
    Antonym: よく (yoku, “frequently, often”)
    私(わたし)は料(りょう)理(り)など全(ぜん)然(ぜん)しない。自(じ)信(しん)がないからね。
    Watashi wa ryōri nado zenzen shinai. Jishin ga nai kara ne.
    I don't cook at all, since I lack the confidence.
    「わかった？」 「いや、全(ぜん)然(ぜん)。」
    “Wakatta?” “Iya, zenzen.”
    "Got it?"   "Nope, not at all."
  2. (colloquial) totally, completely (with affirmative verb)
    Synonyms: 全く (mattaku), 非常に, とても
    全(ぜん)然(ぜん)違(ちが)う話(はなし)
    zenzen chigau hanashi
    a completely different story

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
  2. ^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  3. ^ NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Kindaichi, Kyōsuke et al., editors (1997), 新明解国語辞典 (in Japanese), Fifth edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  • 2002, Ineko Kondō; Fumi Takano; Mary E Althaus; et. al., Shogakukan Progressive Japanese-English Dictionary, Third Edition, Tokyo: Shōgakukan, →ISBN.

Korean

Hanja in this term
全然

Adverb

全然 • (jeonyeon) (hangeul 전연)

  1. hanja form? of 전연 (“completely”)
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