なぜ

Japanese

Alternative spelling
何故

Alternative forms

• (literary) なぜに (naze ni)

Etymology

/nani semu ni/ → */nanzenni/ → /nazenni/ → /nazeni/ → /naze/

Derived from Old Japanese 何せむに.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) なぜ [náꜜzè] (Atamadaka – [1])
• IPA^(key): [na̠ze̞]

Adverb

なぜ • (naze) 

1. (formal, literary, poetic) why ... ?, how ... ?

Usage notes

• This term is often spelled in hiragana.
• This word mainly belongs to formal (e.g. academic essays) and written (e.g. song lyrics) language, and might sound appropriately stiff or poetic in spoken language, even 丁寧語 (polite language), if it is in a context where formal style is not normally used. The synonym befitting most contexts is どうして.

Synonyms

• どうして (dōshite)
• なんで (nande)