へん

See also: べん

Japanese

Etymology 1

From Classical Japanese せん (sen), from はせん (wa sen), with は merged with the preceding syllable or becoming や, giving やへん (yahen). In turn, はせん is a composition of は (wa, topic marker or emphasis marker), せ (se, “to do”, irrealis stem) and ん (n, “not”).

The consonantal shift /s/ to /h/ is also seen in other words in Kansai, e.g. さん (san) to Kansai はん (han).

Suffix

へん • (-hen) 

1. (Kansai) negates verbs in non-past tense

Usage notes

• This word is morphologically an inflectional suffix. It is classified as 助動詞 (jodōshi, “auxiliary verb”) in traditional Japanese grammar.

Etymology 2

Counter

へん • (-hen) 

1. 編, 篇: volume of a printed work
2. 遍: times

Noun

へん • (hen) 

1. 変: strange, (musical notes) flat
2. 編: compilation, knit, plait, braid, twist, editing, completed poem, part of a book
3. 辺: side, edge
4. 偏: a type of Chinese radical, left half
5. 編, 篇: compilation, volume
6. 片: piece, flake