多い

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Japanese

Kanji in this term
おお
Grade: 2
kun'yomi

Etymology

From Old Japanese, from Proto-Japonic *əpə. Cognate with 大きい (ōkii, big, large) and Proto-Ryukyuan *opo (whence Okinawan 多さん (ufusan)).

Pronunciation

  • Tokyo pitch accent of inflected forms of 「多い
Source: Online Japanese Accent Dictionary
Stem forms
Continuative (連用形) 多く おく
Terminal (終止形) 多い おい
Attributive (連体形) 多い おい
Key constructions
Informal negative 多くない おくない
Informal past 多かった おかった
Informal negative past 多くなかった おくなかった
Formal 多いです おいです
Conjunctive 多くて おくて
Conditional 多ければ おければ

Adjective

(おお) (ōiおほい (ofoi)?-i (adverbial (おお) (ōku))

  1. there are many, there is much, there are numerous, there is an abundance, there amply exists, abounding
    ここは、(ひと)(おお)です。
    Koko wa, hito ga ōidesu.
    Here, people amply exist > This place has many people.
    今年(ことし)は、(ゆき)(おお)です。
    Kotoshi wa, yuki ga ōidesu.
    This year, the snow amply exists > It snows much this year.
    リンゴの(かず)は、ミカンより(おお)です。
    Ringo no kazu wa, mikan yori ōidesu.
    The number of apples has more abundance than oranges > The number of apples is greater than the number of oranges.

Usage notes

  • 多い cannot modify a noun to mean the referents of the noun are many.
    • Incorrect:
      (おお)(ひと)ōi hitoamply exist people
    • Correct:
      ()(ども)(おお)(ひと)kodomo ga ōi hitoa person whose children amply exist > a person with many children
      (ひと)(かず)(おお)hito no kazu ga ōithe number of people amply exist → there are many people
    • To modify a noun, use (おお) (ōku no), たくさん (takusan no), (かず)(おお) (kazuōi), etc.

Inflection

Synonyms

Antonyms

References

  1. ^ Kindaichi, Kyōsuke et al., editors (1974), 新明解国語辞典 (in Japanese), Second edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō
  2. ^ 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