大きい

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Japanese

Kanji in this term
おお
Grade: 1
kun'yomi
See also 大きな

Alternative forms

Etymology

/opoki//oɸoki//oɸokiki//owokiː//oːkiː/

Appears in the Muromachi period, 1337 to 1573 CE.[1]

From older adjective (おお) (ōki, ancient reading opoki), derived as the attributive form ōki (ancient opoki) of cognate adjective ōshi (ancient oposi; attributive opoki appearing already in the Man'yōshū of 759 CE,[2] meaning both “large” or “many”, spelled as (おお) (ōshi) or (おお) (ōshi), modern Japanese (おお) (ōi, many)), in turn derived from Old Japanese adjective opo (“indistinct; of uncertain size, shape, or amount”; read as ō in modern Japanese, spelled as or ).[1]

Pronunciation

  • Tokyo pitch accent of inflected forms of 「大きい
Source: Online Japanese Accent Dictionary
Stem forms
Continuative (連用形) 大きく おきく
おき

Terminal (終止形) 大きい おき
Attributive (連体形) 大きい おき
Key constructions
Informal negative 大きくない おきくない
おきくない

Informal past 大きかった おきかった
おきかった

Informal negative past 大きくなかった おきくなかった
おきくなかった

Formal 大きいです おきいです
Conjunctive 大きくて おきくて
おきくて

Conditional 大きければ おきければ
おきければ

Adjective

(おお)きい (ōkiiおほきい (ofokii)?-i (adverbial (おお)きく (ōkiku))

  1. big
  2. broad, immense
  3. important; crucial
    • 2020 December 3, 中舘尚人, “災害対応と不確実性のマネジメント:第1回 “ウィズ不確実性”の時代”, in 経済産業研究所 [The Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry]‎:
      チリ政府(せいふ)政治(せいじ)リスクを(おか)して、結果(けっか)約束(やくそく)したのは(おお)きい
      chiri seifu ga seiji risuku o okashite, kekka o yakusoku shita no wa ōkii.
      (please add an English translation of this example)

Usage notes

(おお)きい (ōkii) and (おお)きな (ōkina) are essentially the same word. However, while ōkii can be used both attributively and to end a sentence, ōkina can only be used attributively, and must be followed by a noun or noun phrase.

  • Correct grammar:
    あの(くるま)(おお)きい。/ あの(くるま)(おお)きいです
    Ano kuruma wa ōkii./ Ano kuruma wa ōkii desu.
    That car is big.
  • Incorrect grammar:
    あの(くるま)(おお)きな。/ あの(くるま)(おお)きなです。
    Ano kuruma wa ōkina./ Ano kuruma wa ōkina desu.
    *That car is a big __.

(おお)きな (ōkina) can only be used attributively; a noun always follows it.

Inflection

Synonyms

Antonyms

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典(新装版) [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
  2. ^
    c. 759, Man’yōshū, book 3, poem 339:
    , text here
  3. ^ NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN