かげろう

Japanese

Etymology 1

Derived as a verb from the noun 陽炎 (kagerō, “heat haze, heat shimmer”).

The shadow sense may derive instead from verb 陰る (kageru, “to become shady, to become shadowed”), as kagera (the 未然形 mizenkei, “imperfective form”) + ふ (fu, auxiliary verb indicating repeated or continuous action): /kaɡerafu/ → /kaɡerau/ → /kaɡerɔu/ → /kaɡerou/

That said, the kage in kageru is ultimately cognate with the kage in the noun kagerō.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) かげろー [kàgéróó] (Heiban – [0])
• IPA^(key): [ka̠ɡe̞ɾo̞ː]

Verb

かげろう • (kagerō) intransitive ^†yodan

1. (archaic) to shimmer, to flicker
2. (archaic) to become shadowed, to fall into shadow

Usage notes

Only listed with 四段活用 (yodan katsuyō, “quadrigrade conjugation”), one of the conjugation patterns for Classical Japanese, indicating that this fell out of common use before the modern period. Note that the Volitional form in the table below should therefore be かげろわう kagerowau instead.

Conjugation

Conjugation of "かげろう" (See Appendix:Japanese verbs.)

Katsuyōkei ("stem forms")
Mizenkei ("imperfective")	かげろわ	kagerowa
Ren’yōkei ("continuative")	かげろい	kageroi
Shūshikei ("terminal")	かげろう	kagerou
Rentaikei ("attributive")	かげろう	kagerou
Kateikei ("hypothetical")	かげろえ	kageroe
Meireikei ("imperative")	かげろえ	kageroe
Key constructions
Passive	かげろわれる	kagerowareru
Causative	かげろわせる かげろわす	kagerowaseru kagerowasu
Potential	かげろえる	kageroeru
Volitional	かげろおう	kageroō
Negative	かげろわない	kagerowanai
Negative continuative	かげろわず	kagerowazu
Formal	かげろいます	kageroimasu
Perfective	かげろった	kagerotta
Conjunctive	かげろって	kagerotte
Hypothetical conditional	かげろえば	kageroeba

Etymology 2

Reading of various kanji compounds.

Noun

かげろう • (kagerō) 

1. 陰郎: during the Edo period, a boy kabuki actor who has not yet appeared on stage; a boy prostitute at banquets
2. 陽炎: heat shimmer, heat haze
3. 蜉蝣, 蜻蛉: a mayfly or dayfly; ephemera, something ephemeral or fleeting