御免

Japanese

Kanji in this term
御	免
ご Grade: S	めん Grade: S
on’yomi

Alternative spelling
御免 (kyūjitai)

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) ごめん [gòméń] (Heiban – [0])
• IPA^(key): [ɡo̞mẽ̞ɴ]

Noun

御(ご)免(めん) or 御免(ゴメン) • (gomen) 

1. something one wants to have no involvement in

   トラブルはごめんだ。

   Toraburu wa gomen da.

   Keep me out of your troubles.

Interjection

御(ご)免(めん) or 御免(ゴメン) • (gomen) 

1. (informal) Clipping of 御免なさい (gomennasai, “I'm sorry”).
   • 1996 July 15, Mitsuru Adachi, “途中下車 [Stopover]”, in SHORT(ショート) PROGRAM(プログラム) (SHORT(ショート) PROGRAM(プログラム)), volume 2 (fiction), Tokyo: Shogakukan, →ISBN, page 94:

     一(いっ)緒(しょ)にいると楽(たの)しかったから、…だまってた。ゴメンね。

     Issho ni iru to tanoshikatta kara,…damatteta. Gomen ne.

     We had a lot of fun together, …so I didn’t want to tell you. Sorry.

   • 2005 November 9, Nobuhiro Watsuki, “武(ブ)装(ソウ)錬(レン)金(キン)ファイナル”, in 武(ブ)装(ソウ)錬(レン)金(キン) (武(ブ)装(ソウ)錬(レン)金(キン)), volume 9, Tokyo: Shueisha, →ISBN:

     ゴメン　斗(ト)貴(キ)子(コ)さん　その約(やく)束(そく)守(まも)れない　本(ほん)当(とう)にゴメン

     Gomen Tokiko-san Sono yakusoku mamorenai Hontō ni gomen

     I’m sorry, Tokiko-san. I can’t keep that promise. I’m really sorry.

   • 2016, ライフ イズ ストレンジ [Life Is Strange], spoken by Maxine “Max” Caulfield (Kumi Tanaka), Square Enix, via Dontnod Entertainment:

     クロエ　ごめんね…　こんなのイヤだけど…　でも…

     Kuroe gomen ne… konna no iya da kedo… demo…

     Chloe, I’m so, so sorry… I don’t wanna do this… but…

Usage notes

• Often followed by the particle ね (ne), i.e.

  ごめんね！ ― gomen ne ! ― I'm sorry!

• This is an example of a word that can be spelled with katakana to convey an informal conversational tone, as ゴメン.

Derived terms

• 切捨御免(きりすてごめん) (kirisute gomen)