滅びる

Japanese

Kanji in this term
滅
ほろ Grade: S
kun’yomi

Alternative spelling
亡びる

Etymology

From Classical Japanese verb 滅(ほろ)ぶ (horobu).

Development

Natural progression from Old and Classical Japanese 上二段活用 (kami nidan katsuyō, “upper bigrade conjugation”) verbs ending in -u to modern Japanese 上一段活用 (kami ichidan katsuyō, “upper monograde conjugation”) verbs ending in -iru.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) ほろび​る [hòróbíꜜrù] (Nakadaka – [3])
• (Tokyo) ほろびる [hòróbírú] (Heiban – [0])
• IPA^(key): [ho̞ɾo̞bʲiɾɯ̟ᵝ]

• Tokyo pitch accent of conjugated forms of "滅びる"

Source: Online Japanese Accent Dictionary
Stem forms
Terminal (終止形) Attributive (連体形)	滅びる	ほろび​る	[hòróbíꜜrù]
Imperative (命令形)	滅びろ	ほろび​ろ	[hòróbíꜜrò]
Key constructions
Passive	滅びられる	ほろびられ​る	[hòróbíráréꜜrù]
Causative	滅びさせる	ほろびさせ​る	[hòróbísáséꜜrù]
Potential	-	-	-
Volitional	滅びよう	ほろびよ​ー	[hòróbíyóꜜò]
Negative	滅びない	ほろび​ない	[hòróbíꜜnàì]
Negative perfective	滅びなかった	ほろび​なかった	[hòróbíꜜnàkàttà]
Formal	滅びます	ほろびま​す	[hòróbímáꜜsù]
Perfective	滅びた	ほろ​びた	[hòróꜜbìtà]
Conjunctive	滅びて	ほろ​びて	[hòróꜜbìtè]
Hypothetical conditional	滅びれば	ほろび​れば	[hòróbíꜜrèbà]

Verb

滅(ほろ)びる • (horobiru) intransitive ichidan (stem 滅(ほろ)び (horobi), past 滅(ほろ)びた (horobita))

Japanese verb pair
active	滅ぼす
mediopassive	滅びる

1. to die, to fall, to collapse, to perish
   • "Laputa : Castle in the Sky", 1986

     ラピュタは滅(ほろ)びぬ、何(なん)度(ど)でも甦(よみがえ)るさ。

     Rapyuta wa horobi nu, nando demo yomigaeru sa.

     Laputa never dies, it will be reborn many times.

2. to die out; to become extinct
   • 2007, 新時代日漢辭典／新时代日汉辞典 (Xīn Shídài Rì-hàn Cídiǎn), 1st edition, 大新書局／大新书局 (Dàxīn Shūjú), →ISBN:

     この種(しゅ)の動(どう)物(ぶつ)は数(すう)万(まん)年(ねん)ほど前(まえ)既(すで)に滅(ほろ)びてしまった。

     Kono shu no dōbutsu wa sū man nen hodo mae sudeni horobite shimatta.

     This species of animal has already become extinct tens of thousands of years ago.

Conjugation

Conjugation of "滅びる" (See Appendix:Japanese verbs.)

Katsuyōkei ("stem forms")
Mizenkei ("imperfective")	滅び	ほろび	horobi
Ren’yōkei ("continuative")	滅び	ほろび	horobi
Shūshikei ("terminal")	滅びる	ほろびる	horobiru
Rentaikei ("attributive")	滅びる	ほろびる	horobiru
Kateikei ("hypothetical")	滅びれ	ほろびれ	horobire
Meireikei ("imperative")	滅びよ¹ 滅びろ²	ほろびよ¹ ほろびろ²	horobiyo¹ horobiro²
Key constructions
Passive	滅びられる	ほろびられる	horobirareru
Causative	滅びさせる 滅びさす	ほろびさせる ほろびさす	horobisaseru horobisasu
Potential	滅びられる 滅びれる³	ほろびられる ほろびれる³	horobirareru horobireru³
Volitional	滅びよう	ほろびよう	horobiyō
Negative	滅びない 滅びぬ 滅びん	ほろびない ほろびぬ ほろびん	horobinai horobinu horobin
Negative continuative	滅びず	ほろびず	horobizu
Formal	滅びます	ほろびます	horobimasu
Perfective	滅びた	ほろびた	horobita
Conjunctive	滅びて	ほろびて	horobite
Hypothetical conditional	滅びれば	ほろびれば	horobireba
¹ Written imperative ² Spoken imperative ³ Colloquial potential

Synonyms

• 滅(ほろ)ぶ (horobu)
• (die out): 死(し)に絶(た)える (shinitaeru)

Antonyms

• 興(おこ)る (okoru, “rise”)

Related terms

• 死(し)ぬ (shinu) (especially of life, figuratively intangible matters)
• 消(き)える (kieru) (especially of fire, figuratively intangible matters)