兎に角

Japanese

Kanji in this term
兎	角
と Jinmeiyō (ateji)	かく Grade: 2 (ateji)
on'yomi

Etymology

Shift from とにかくに (to ni kaku ni), itself composed of と (to, “in that way”) +‎ に (ni, particle) +‎ 斯く (kaku, “in this way”) +‎ に (ni, particle).^[1]^[2]

The kanji spelling literally means “horns on a rabbit”, but this is merely ateji (当て字). It is perhaps an allusion to Literary Chinese 龜毛兔角 (guīmáotùjiǎo, “an impossibility”, literally “hair on a turtle, horns on a rabbit”).

Pronunciation

(Tokyo) とにかく [tóꜜnìkàkù] (Atamadaka – [1])^[2]^[3]
IPA^(key): [to̞ɲ̟ika̠kɯ̟]

Adverb

兎(と)に角(かく) • (tonikaku)

anyway, anyhow, in any case, be that as it may

Usage notes

This term is more commonly written in hiragana, as とにかく.

Synonyms

兎(と)も角(かく)も (to mo kaku mo)
兎(と)にも角(かく)にも (to ni mo kaku ni mo)

Related terms

References

^ Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
^ 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), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN

[KDJ-1] Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN

[DJR-2] 2.0 ^2.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

[NHK-3] 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), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN

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