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おはよう

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Japanese

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Alternative spellings
御早う
お早う
おはよー

Etymology

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Originally a compound of (o-, honorific prefix) +‎ 早く (hayaku, early, adverb), from adjective 早い (hayai, early).[1][2][3]

Modern Japanese -i adjectives formerly ended in -ki for the attributive form. This medial /k/ dropped out during the Muromachi period, both for the attributive form (-ki becoming -i) and for the adverbial form (-ku becoming -u). However, the adverbial form reverted back to -ku thereafter for most words, with the -u ending persisting in certain everyday set expressions, such as arigatō, ohayō, or omedetō, and in hyper-formal speech.

/ohayaku//ohayau//ohayoː/

Pronunciation

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Interjection

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おはよう (ohayōおはやう (ofayau)?

  1. good morning

Usage notes

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Most often written in hiragana. May occasionally be seen spelled in kanji, generally for more formal writing. Usually followed by ございます (gozaimasu, it is, formal) in less casual contexts.[1][2][3]

This phrase is said to people whom one meets in the first time in a day. Therefore, sometimes this phrase can also be heard in the afternoon or even in the evening, especially among night shift workers and entertainment industry, etc. However, as people mostly meet each other in the morning, this phrase is translated as "good morning" under normal circumstances.

Derived terms

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References

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  1. 1.0 1.1 Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典(新装版) [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
  2. 2.0 2.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (1995), 大辞泉 [Daijisen] (in Japanese), First edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, →ISBN
  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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