ご臨終

Japanese

Kanji in this term
臨	終
りん Grade: 6	しゅう > じゅう Grade: 3
on'yomi

Etymology

御(ご) (go-, “honorific prefix”) + 臨終(りんじゅう) (rinjū, “dying hour”)

Noun

ご臨(りん)終(じゅう) • (gorinjū) 

1. deathbed, dying moment, dying hour, one's last breath

Usage notes

This is a formal way of saying that a person has died. For example, a doctor would use this word rather than plain 死(し)ぬ (shinu, “die”) when informing someone that their relative has just died.