目覚まし

Japanese

Kanji in this term
目	覚
め Grade: 1	さ > ざ Grade: 4
kun’yomi

Alternative spellings
目覺まし (kyūjitai) 目覚し

Etymology

Compound of 目 (me, “eye”) +‎ 覚まし (samashi, “clearing one's eyes or mind of sleep, confusion, etc.”, the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of verb 覚ます (samasu, “to clear one's mind or eyes”)). The samashi changes to zamashi as an instance of rendaku (連濁).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) めざ​まし [mèzáꜜmàshì] (Nakadaka – [2])
• IPA^(key): [me̞za̠ma̠ɕi]

Noun

目(め)覚(ざ)まし or 目覚(めさ)まし • (mezamashi or mesamashi) 

1. waking, waking up (either waking oneself, or waking someone else)
2. a kind of sweet given to children waking up

   Synonyms: お目覚 (omeza), お目覚まし (omezamashi)

3. Short for 目覚まし時計 (“alarm clock”).

Usage notes

• The mezamashi reading appears to be more common than mesamashi.
• Not to be confused with 目覚ましい (mezamashii, “wonderful, brilliant, striking”, adjective).

Derived terms

• 目(め)覚(ざ)まし時(ど)計(けい) (mezamashidokei)