なぜ

Japanese edit

Alternative spelling
何故

Alternative forms edit

(literary) なぜに (naze ni)

Etymology edit

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

Derived from Old Japanese 何せむに.^[1]

Pronunciation edit

(Tokyo) なぜ [náꜜzè] (Atamadaka – [1])^[2]
IPA^(key): [na̠ze̞]

Adverb edit

なぜ • (naze)

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

Usage notes edit

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 edit

どうして (dōshite)
なんで (nande)

References edit

^ Kotobank(コトバンク)
^ NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK Publishing, →ISBN

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