白い

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

Japanese

Kanji in this term
しろ
Grade: 1
kun'yomi

Etymology

Modern form of Old Japanese adjective しろし (shiroshi).

⟨siro1si⟩ (classical 終止形 (shūshikei) or terminal form) → ⟨siro1ki1 (classical 連体形 (rentaikei) or attributive form) → /siroi/ (modern shūshikei and rentaikei)

An intervocalic sound-change caused the medial plosive /-k-/ to undergo voicing, then spirantization, then gliding, then being dropped, before /-i, -u, -e, -o/ (Hamano, 2000).

⟨siro1ki1 → */sirʷokʲi/ → */sirʷogʲi/ → */sirʷoɣi/ → */sirʷoji//siroi/.

Pronunciation

  • Tokyo pitch accent of inflected forms of 「白い
Source: Online Japanese Accent Dictionary
Stem forms
Continuative (連用形) 白く ろく

Terminal (終止形) 白い
Attributive (連体形) 白い
Key constructions
Informal negative 白くない ろくない
くない

Informal past 白かった ろかった
かった

Informal negative past 白くなかった ろくなかった
くなかった

Formal 白いです いです
Conjunctive 白くて ろくて
くて

Conditional 白ければ ろければ
ければ

Adjective

(しろ) (shiroi-i (adverbial (しろ) (shiroku))

  1. white

Inflection

References

  • 2002, Ineko Kondō; Fumi Takano; Mary E Althaus; et. al., Shogakukan Progressive Japanese-English Dictionary, Third Edition, Tokyo: Shōgakukan, →ISBN.
  • Hamano, S. Journal of East Asian Linguistics (2000) 9: 207. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008367619295