悲しい

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Japanese

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Kanji in this term
かな
Grade: 3
kun'yomi
Alternative spellings
哀しい (rare)
愛しい (rare)

Etymology

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⟨kanasi1ki1/kanasiki//kanaɕiː/

From Old Japanese 悲し (kanasi, emotionally overwhelming: dear, beloved, sad), ultimately from Proto-Japonic *kanasi (beloved, dear). Attested once in the Nihon Shoki of 720, and amply in the Man'yōshū, completed in 759.[1][2]

Originally meant "dear, beloved, lovely", in addition to "sad". The former senses were later taken over by other adjectives such as 愛らしい (airashii) and 可愛い (kawaii). See also the Ryukyuan cognates such as Miyako 悲す (kanasï) and Okinawan 愛さん (kanasan, beloved, lovely, cute), which do not mean "sad".

Considering the original sense of "emotionally overwhelming", might be cognate with 兼ねる (kaneru, to group together; to be concerned about something), from the semantic overlap with worrying.

Pronunciation

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  • Tokyo pitch accent of inflected forms of 「悲しい
Source: Online Japanese Accent Dictionary
Stem forms
Continuative (連用形) 悲しく なしく [kànáshíkú]
Terminal (終止形) 悲しい なしい
なし
[kànáshíí]
[kànáshíꜜì]
Attributive (連体形) 悲しい なしい [kànáshíí]
Key constructions
Informal negative 悲しくない なしくな [kànáshíkúnáꜜì]
Informal past 悲しかった なしかった [kànáshíꜜkàttà]
Informal negative past 悲しくなかった なしくなかった [kànáshíkúnáꜜkàttà]
Formal 悲しいです なしいです [kànáshíꜜìdèsù]
Conjunctive 悲しくて なしくて [kànáshíꜜkùtè]
Conditional 悲しければ なしければ [kànáshíꜜkèrèbà]

Adjective

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(かな)しい (kanashii-i (adverbial (かな)しく (kanashiku))

  1. [from 720] sad, sorrowful

Inflection

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Derived terms

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References

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  1. ^ Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典(新装版) [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
  2. ^
    720, Nihon Shoki, poem 43:
    , text here
  3. 3.0 3.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

Further reading

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