どう
JapaneseEdit
Alternative spellings |
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如何 (rare) 怎 (rare) |
Etymology 1Edit
First cited to 1604 in the Portuguese work Arte da Lingoa de Iapam.[1]
The initial ど (do) may be cognate with the interrogative ど (do) seen in どれ (dore), どこ (doko), どち (dochi).[1]
Alternatively, possibly from older form だう (dau), much like the shift from かう (kau) → こう (kō, “like this, this way”), or さう (sau) → そう (sō, “like that, that way”). This shift is apparently suggested in the Arte da Lingoa de Iapam entry of Dǒxô, presumably どうしよう (dō shiyō).[1] However, the expected entries dǒ or dǒxô are missing from the 1603 Nippo Jisho.[2]
The kanji spelling is an example of jukujikun (熟字訓), using the corresponding Chinese term for the spelling and the underlying Japanese root word for the reading.
PronunciationEdit
AdverbEdit
- in what manner, how
- Synonym: いかが (ikaga)
- どうやったの?
- Dō yatta no?
- How did you do it?
- どうやってもできない
- dō yatte mo dekinai
- can't do it no matter what
- (literally, “can't do it no matter how one does”)
- この後はどうする?
- Kono ato wa dō suru?
- What will we do after this?
- (literally, “After this, how will we do?”)
- どうしよう!
- Dō shiyō!
- Oh no! What will we do now?
- (literally, “How should we do?”)
- どうしようもない
- dō shiyō mo nai
- can't be helped
- (literally, “has not even how to do”)
- どうだ!
- Dō da!
- How is it, huh? (smug/triumphant)
- どうだろう。
- Dō darō.
- I wonder.
- 計画がどうなっているのか知らない。
- Keikaku ga dō natteiru no ka shiranai.
- I don't know how the project is going.
- what about... (used to make a suggestion)
- お茶、どう?
- Ocha, dō?
- How about some tea?
- あなたはどうですか?
- Anata wa dō desu ka?
- How about you? / What about you?
- お茶、どう?
Usage notesEdit
The term dō is generally considered more prosaic and informal than the synonym いかが (ikaga).
More commonly spelled in hiragana as どう. The kanji spelling 如何 is rare.
Derived termsEdit
InterjectionEdit
- Casual greeting: Howdy? What's new? What's up?
- どう?まあまあ。
- Dō? Māmā.
- Howdy? So-so.
- どう?まあまあ。
- Casual question: It works? Is it OK?
- どう?いいんじゃない。
- Dō? Ii n ja nai.
- It works? Seems OK.
- どう?いいんじゃない。
- Call out to horses or cows to control/stop them: Ho! Hoy! Whoa!
See alsoEdit
ko- “this” (close to speaker) |
so- “that” (close to listener) |
a- “that over there” (far from both) |
do- “which” (indeterminate, question) | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Object | これ (kore) | それ (sore) | あれ (are) | どれ (dore) |
これら (korera) | それら (sorera) | あれら (arera) | — | |
Determiner | この (kono) | その (sono) | あの (ano) | どの (dono) |
これらの (korera no) | それらの (sorera no) | あれらの (arera no) | — | |
Kind | こんな (konna) | そんな (sonna) | あんな (anna) | どんな (donna) |
Place | ここ (koko) | そこ (soko) | あそこ (asoko)* | どこ (doko) |
こっから (kokkara) | そっから (sokkara) | — | どっから (dokkara) | |
Direction | こちら (kochira) | そちら (sochira) | あちら (achira) | どちら (dochira) |
こっち (kotchi) | そっち (sotchi) | あっち (atchi) | どっち (dotchi) | |
Human | こいつ (koitsu) | そいつ (soitsu) | あいつ (aitsu) | どいつ (doitsu) |
こちら様 (kochirasama) | そちら様 (sochirasama) | あちら様 (achirasama) | どちら様 (dochirasama) | |
Manner | こう (kō) | そう (sō) | ああ (ā)** | どう (dō) |
Degree | こんくらい (konkurai) | そんくらい (sonkurai) | あんくらい (ankurai) | どんくらい (donkurai) |
こんだけ (kondake) | そんだけ (sondake) | あんだけ (andake) | どんだけ (dondake) | |
* irregular ** regular (long vowel) |
Etymology 2Edit
For pronunciation and definitions of どう – see the following entries. | ||||||||||||||||
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(This term, どう, is an alternative spelling of the above Sino-Japanese terms. For a list of all kanji read as どう, not just those used in Japanese terms, see Category:Japanese kanji read as どう.) |
(The following entries are uncreated: 動, 幢, 怎.)
ReferencesEdit
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1988, 国語大辞典(新装版) (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
- ^ 1603, 日葡辞書: パリ本 / Vocabulario da Lingoa Iapam (Nippo Jisho: Paris edition / Vocabulary of the Language of Japan) (in Japanese and Portuguese), 1976 reprint, Tōkyō: Bensei Publishing, relevant page here
- ^ 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN