Japanese

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Kanji in this term

Grade: 4
kun'yomi
Alternative spellings
めでたい
目出度い
芽出度い

Etymology

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/medeitasi//medetaɕi//medetai/

Originally a compound of 愛で (mede, the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, continuative or stem form) of verb 愛でる (mederu, to love; to admire or appreciate)) +‎ 甚し (itashi, intense, extreme, old terminal form of modern 甚い or 痛い (itai)), with an original meaning similar to extremely admirable.[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

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  • Tokyo pitch accent of inflected forms of 「めでたい
Source: Online Japanese Accent Dictionary
Stem forms
Continuative (連用形) めでたく たく
でた
[mèdéꜜtàkù]
[mèdétáꜜkù]
Terminal (終止形) めでたい でた [mèdétáꜜì]
Attributive (連体形) めでたい でた [mèdétáꜜì]
Key constructions
Informal negative めでたくない たくない
でたくない
[mèdéꜜtàkùnàì]
[mèdétáꜜkùnàì]
Informal past めでたかった たかった
でたかった
[mèdéꜜtàkàttà]
[mèdétáꜜkàttà]
Informal negative past めでたくなかった たくなかった
でたくなかった
[mèdéꜜtàkùnàkàttà]
[mèdétáꜜkùnàkàttà]
Formal めでたいです でたいです [mèdétáꜜìdèsù]
Conjunctive めでたくて たくて
でたくて
[mèdéꜜtàkùtè]
[mèdétáꜜkùtè]
Conditional めでたければ たければ
でたければ
[mèdéꜜtàkèrèbà]
[mèdétáꜜkèrèbà]

Adjective

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()でたい (medetai-i (adverbial ()でたく (medetaku))

  1. auspicious (auguring favourable circumstances and good luck)

Usage notes

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This word is usually written all in hiragana, as めでたい. When written in kanji, the spellings 目出度い and 芽出度い may also be seen. The kanji in both of these spellings are examples of ateji.[1][2][3]

Inflection

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References

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  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  2. 2.0 2.1 Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典(新装版) [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
  3. 3.0 3.1 Matsumura, Akira (1995) 大辞泉 [Daijisen] (in Japanese), First edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, →ISBN
  4. ^ 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