おはよう

Japanese

Japanese phrasebook

This entry is part of the phrasebook project, which presents criteria for inclusion based on utility, simplicity and commonness.

Alternative spellings
御早う お早う おはよー

Etymology

Originally a compound of 御 (o-, honorific prefix) +‎ 早く (hayaku, “early”, adverb), from adjective 早い (hayai, “early”).

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

• (Tokyo) おはよー [òháyóó] (Heiban – [0])
• IPA^(key): [o̞ha̠jo̞ː]

Interjection

おはよう • (ohayō) ^{←おはやう (ofayau)?}

1. good morning

Usage notes

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.

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

• おはようございます (ohayō gozaimasu)

Further reading

• Japanese language on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Late Middle Japanese on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• ウ音便 ("u" sound shift) on the Japanese Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^ja