Japanese edit

Etymology 1 edit

Kanji in this term
うご
Grade: 3
kun’yomi

From Old Japanese. Attested in the Kojiki of 712.[1] From Proto-Japonic *unkoku.

Likely derived as a compound of うご (ugo, a 擬態語 (gitaigo, mimetic word) imitative of something crawling or creeping; compare the sound shapes of roots wrig- or wig- in English wriggle, wiggle) +‎ (ku, verb-forming suffix).[1] Compare also the related adverb うごうご (ugougo, wrigglingly, squirmlingly, creepingly: moving in continuous small increments).

Pronunciation edit

  • Tokyo pitch accent of conjugated forms of "動く"
Source: Online Japanese Accent Dictionary
Stem forms
Terminal (終止形)
Attributive (連体形)
動く [ùgóꜜkù]
Imperative (命令形) 動け [ùgóꜜkè]
Key constructions
Passive 動かれる ごかれ [ùgókáréꜜrù]
Causative 動かせる ごかせ [ùgókáséꜜrù]
Potential 動ける ごけ [ùgókéꜜrù]
Volitional 動こう ごこ [ùgókóꜜò]
Negative 動かない ごかない [ùgókáꜜnàì]
Negative perfective 動かなかった ごかなかった [ùgókáꜜnàkàttà]
Formal 動きます ごきま [ùgókímáꜜsù]
Perfective 動いた いた [ùgóꜜìtà]
Conjunctive 動いて いて [ùgóꜜìtè]
Hypothetical conditional 動けば けば [ùgóꜜkèbà]

Verb edit

(うご) (ugokuintransitive godan (stem (うご) (ugoki), past (うご)いた (ugoita))

Japanese verb pair
active 動かす
mediopassive 動く
  1. [from 712] to move
    1. to stir, shake, shift, swing
      (うご)な!国際警察(こくさいけいさつ)だ。
      Ugoku na! Kokusai keisatsu da.
      Interpol! Don't move!
      • c. 759, Man’yōshū, book 10, poem 2176:
        , text here:
        秋田苅(あきたかる)苫手(とまで)(うごく)奈利(なり)白露志(しらつゆし)置穂田無跡(おくほだなしと)告尓来良思(つげにきぬらし)
        aki ta karu, tomade ugoku nari, shiratsuyu shi, oku hoda nashi to, tsuge ni kinu rashi
        The autumn-harvest rush-mat shelter moves [in the wind], as if [the wind] has come to tell us that there are no more fields full of ripe and dew-laden grain...
    2. (as of a machine or device) to operate, run, go, work
    3. (as of a person or group) to work, go into action
    4. (emotionally) to be moved, touched, influenced
    5. to change, vary, fluctuate, waver
Conjugation edit
Related terms edit

Etymology 2 edit

Kanji in this term
いご
Grade: 3
kun’yomi

Rare dialectal variation on ugoku above.[1][2]

Attested from the late Muromachi period (1336–1573).[1]

Pronunciation edit

Verb edit

(いご) (igokuintransitive godan (stem (いご) (igoki), past (いご)いた (igoita))

  1. [from late 1500s] (archaic, possibly obsolete) to move
Conjugation edit

Etymology 3 edit

Kanji in this term
おご
Grade: 3
kun’yomi

Rare dialectal variation on ugoku above.[1]

Attested in a text from 1002.[1]

Pronunciation edit

Verb edit

(おご) (ogokuintransitive godan (stem (おご) (ogoki), past (おご)いた (ogoita))

  1. [from 1002] (obsolete) to move
Conjugation edit

References edit

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典(新装版) [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
  2. 2.0 2.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 (in Japanese), Third edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN