いい

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Japanese[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

Alternative spellings
良い
善い
好い

⟨yo2si⟩ → */jəsi//joɕi//joki/ → */joɣi//joi/ → */jiː//iː/

Ultimately a shift from 良い (yoi), classical 良し (yoshi).

Pronunciation[edit]

  • Tokyo pitch accent of inflected forms of "いい"
Source: Online Japanese Accent Dictionary
Stem forms
Continuative (連用形) よく [yóꜜkù]
Terminal (終止形) いい [íꜜì]
Attributive (連体形) いい [íꜜì]
Key constructions
Informal negative よくない くない [yóꜜkùnàì]
Informal past よかった かった [yóꜜkàttà]
Informal negative past よくなかった くなかった [yóꜜkùnàkàttà]
Formal いいです いです [íꜜìdèsù]
Conjunctive よくて くて [yóꜜkùtè]
Conditional よければ ければ [yóꜜkèrèbà]

Adjective[edit]

いい (ii-i (adverbial よく (yoku))

  1. (colloquial, informal) good
  2. (colloquial, predicative only) enough, not wanted any more
    (さけ)もういいsake wa mō iiI have had enough wine.I don’t want any more wine.
  3. (ても~, ~) Indicates permission; can, may
Usage notes[edit]
  • Most often written in this form. The kanji spelling 良い is generally reserved for more formal writing.
  • This form does not inflect — it is only used in the 終止形 (shūshikei, terminal form) and 連体形 (rentaikei, attributive form) of ii. All other grammatical forms are based on 良い (yoi). Compare the 連用形 (ren’yōkei, continuative or adverbial form) yoku or the 過去形 (kakokei, past tense) yokatta; there is no *iku or *ikatta form.
  • In ironic usages denoting “very bad” or “embarrassing”, this form is preferred to the yoi form.
Inflection[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

Verb[edit]

いい (ii

  1. stem or continuative form of いう (iu) [godan]

Etymology 3[edit]

For pronunciation and definitions of いい – see the following entry.
4
[noun] (archaic) cooked grains, especially cooked rice
[proper noun] a surname
(This term, いい, is the hiragana spelling of the above term.)
For a list of all kanji read as いい, see Category:Japanese kanji read as いい.)

References[edit]

  1. ^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 (in Japanese), Third edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  2. ^ 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), Tōkyō: NHK Publishing, →ISBN