寂しい

Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word 寂しい. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word 寂しい, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say 寂しい in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word 寂しい you have here. The definition of the word 寂しい will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of寂しい, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.

Japanese

Kanji in this term
さみ
Grade: S
kun'yomi
Alternative spelling
淋しい
Kanji in this term
さび
Grade: S
kun'yomi
Alternative spelling
淋しい

Etymology

From Old Japanese. First attested as sabusi in the Man'yōshū, completed sometime around 759 CE.[1]

Generally thought to derive from 荒ぶ (sabu, to be desolate, to be lonely), cognate with 錆びる (sabiru, to rust, to get old, intransitive).[2][3][4]

In early modern times, some dialects shift in reading from /-b-/ to /-m-/, thus creating samishii; similar to (tsuburi, tsumuri, head), in which tsuburi changes to tsumuri, and (keburi, kemuri, smoke), in which keburi changes to kemuri.[4][5]

Pronunciation

  • Tokyo pitch accent of inflected forms of 「寂しい
Source: Online Japanese Accent Dictionary
Stem forms
Continuative (連用形) 寂しく しく
びし

Terminal (終止形) 寂しい びし
Attributive (連体形) 寂しい びし
Key constructions
Informal negative 寂しくない しくない
びしくない

Informal past 寂しかった しかった
びしかった

Informal negative past 寂しくなかった しくなかった
びしくなかった

Formal 寂しいです びしいです
Conjunctive 寂しくて しくて
びしくて

Conditional 寂しければ しければ
びしければ

Adjective

(さび)しい or (さみ)しい (sabishii or samishii-i (adverbial (さび)しく (sabishiku))

  1. lonely
  2. desolate
  3. depressing, sad
    そんな(さみ)しいこと()うなよ。
    Sonna samishii koto iu na yo.
    Don't say such sad things.
    ()しの卒業(そつぎょう)(さみ)しい
    oshi no sotsugyō ga samishii
    The graduation of my favorite idol is depressing

Inflection

  • さびしい
  • さびし (Classical Japanese)
  • さみしい

References

  1. ^ Frellesvig, Bjarke, Stephen Wright Horn, et al. (eds.) (2023) “Old Japanese sabusi”, in Oxford-NINJAL Corpus of Old Japanese
  2. ^ 寂しい”, in デジタル大辞泉 [Digital Daijisen]‎ (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, updated roughly every four months
  3. ^ さぶし”, in デジタル大辞泉 [Digital Daijisen]‎ (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, updated roughly every four months
  4. 4.0 4.1 寂しい/淋しい/さびしい/さみしい - Gogen Yurai Jiten (in Japanese)
  5. ^ Samuel E. Martin (1987) The Japanese Language Through Time, New Haven, London: Yale University Press, →ISBN
  6. 6.0 6.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN