赤い

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Japanese

Kanji in this term
赤
あか
Grade: 1
kun'yomi

Etymology

From the 連体形 (rentaikei, “attributive form”) of Early Middle Japanese adjective 赤し (akashi), with the medial /-k-/ falling out. Cognate with 明るい (akarui, “bright”).

Medial voiceless plosives, like /-k-/, underwent voicing, then spirantization, then gliding, then being dropped, before /-i, -u, -e, -o/. As this intervocalic sound-change did not occur before /-a/(Hamano, 2000),[1] Middle Japanese /akaki/ became /akai/ 赤い.

⟨akaki1⟩ → */akakʲi/ → */akaɡʲi/ → */akaɣi/ → */akaji/ → */akai/.

Pronunciation

  • Tokyo pitch accent of inflected forms of 「赤い」
Source: Online Japanese Accent Dictionary
Stem forms
Continuative (連用形) 赤く あかく
Terminal (終止形) 赤い あかい
あかい
Attributive (連体形) 赤い あかい
Key constructions
Informal negative 赤くない あかくない
Informal past 赤かった あかかった
Informal negative past 赤くなかった あかくなかった
Formal 赤いです あかいです
Conjunctive 赤くて あかくて
Conditional 赤ければ あかければ

Adjective

赤(あか)い • (akai) -i (adverbial 赤(あか)く (akaku))

  1. red (color)
    • 1603, Vocabvlario da Lingoa de Iapam (Nippo Jisho) [Vocabulary of the Language of Japan] (in Portuguese), Nagasaki, page 9:
      Acai. アカイ (赤い) 赤い(もの).
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Inflection

Inflection of 赤い
Stem forms
Imperfective (未然形) 赤かろ あかかろ akakaro
Continuative (連用形) 赤く あかく akaku
Terminal (終止形) 赤い あかい akai
Attributive (連体形) 赤い あかい akai
Hypothetical (仮定形) 赤けれ あかけれ akakere
Imperative (命令形) 赤かれ あかかれ akakare
Key constructions
Informal negative 赤くない あかくない akaku nai
Informal past 赤かった あかかった akakatta
Informal negative past 赤くなかった あかくなかった akaku nakatta
Formal 赤いです あかいです akai desu
Formal negative 赤くないです あかくないです akaku nai desu
Formal past 赤かったです あかかったです akakatta desu
Formal negative past 赤くなかったです あかくなかったです akaku nakatta desu
Conjunctive 赤くて あかくて akakute
Conditional 赤ければ あかければ akakereba
Provisional 赤かったら あかかったら akakattara
Volitional 赤かろう あかかろう akakarō
Adverbial 赤く あかく akaku
Degree 赤さ あかさ akasa

References

  1. ^ Hamano, S. Journal of East Asian Linguistics (2000) 9: 207. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008367619295
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 “あか・い 【赤】Paid subscription required”, in 日本国語大辞典 [Nihon Kokugo Daijiten]‎ (in Japanese), 2nd edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, 2000-2002, released online 2007, →ISBN, concise edition entry available here
  3. ^ Kindaichi, Kyōsuke et al., editors (1974), 新明解国語辞典 [Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten] (in Japanese), Second edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō
  4. ^ Nakai, Yukihiko, editor (2002), 京阪系アクセント辞典 [A Dictionary of Tone on Words of the Keihan-type Dialects] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Bensei, →ISBN

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