よう
Japanese
Etymology 1
On'yomi terms.
Noun
- 用: business, engagement
- 幼: young; young children
- 洋: ocean
- 要: cornerstone; requirement
- 俑: wooden figure buried with the dead
- 様: way, style, appearance
- 葉: leaf, needle, blade (of a plant)
- 陽: yang, sun, light
- 癰: carbuncle
Counter
- 葉: (rare) counter for flat, thin things such as leaves or paper; (by extension) counter for small boats
Adjective
よう • (yō) -na (adnominal ような (yō na na), adverbial ように (yō ni ni))
Etymology 2
Verb
よう • (you) godan (stem よい (yoi), past よった (yotta))
- 酔う: to get drunk
Etymology 3
/mu/ → /ũ/ → /u/ → (for Group II (ichidan) and Group III (irregular) verbs) /joː/
The volitional verb suffix was originally む (mu, /mu/). This regularly shifted to a nasalized /ũ/, which then lost its nasalization and was reinterpreted as regular う (u, /u/) by roughly the Kamakura period (1185–1333).[1][2][3]
This suffix grammatically attached to the 未然形 (mizenkei, “irrealis or incomplete form”) of the verb. Regular sound changes then gave rise to the modern よう (yō, /joː/) ending, initially via fusion of the vowel sounds, and then by a reanalysis of the resulting fused -yō as the suffix to be added to the mizenkei stem. This reformulation as verb stem + suffix -yō started in the late Muromachi period (1336–1573) and continued through the Edo period in 1603–1868).[1][2][3]
- 上一段活用 (kami ichidan, “upper monograde”) verbs with mizenkei stems ending in -i:
- 見む (mimu, /mimu/) → 見う (miu, /miu/) → 見う (myō, /mjoː/) → 見よう (miyō, /mijoː/)
- 下一段活用 (shimo ichidan, “lower monograde”) verbs with mizenkei stems ending in -e:
- 上げむ (agemu, /aɡemu/) → 上げう (ageu, /aɡeu/) → 上げう (agyō, /aɡjoː/) → 上げよう (ageyō, /aɡejoː/)
- The irregular verb する (suru) underwent further changes. The classical mizenkei stem ended in -e, and せ (se) in classical Japanese was pronounced more as she. Around the same time that the fused shō was separating again into a verb stem + suffix, the mizenkei stem shifted to end in i:
- せむ (shemu, /ɕemu/) → せう (sheu, /ɕeu/) → せう (shō, /ɕoː/) → しよう (shiyō, /ɕijoː/)
- The irregular verb 来る (kuru) has a mizenkei stem ending in -o. This stem includes no front-vowel sound like /e/ or /i/ that might produce the palatal glide in /joː/, and here, the final -yō arose as a parallel construction with the above verb paradigms:
- 来む (komu, /komu/) → 来う (kou, /kou/) → 来う (kō, /koː/) → 来よう (koyō, /kojoː/)
Meanwhile, for regular classical 四段活用 (yodan katsuyō, “quadrigrade conjugation”) verbs, the mizenkei stem ends in -a. This ultimately fused with the -u suffix form to produce -ō, resulting in the modern regular 五段活用 (godan katsuyō, “quintigrade conjugation”).
- 行かむ (ikamu, /ikamu/) → 行かう (ikau, /ikau/) → 行かう (ikau, /ikɔː/) → 行こう (ikō, /ikoː/)
Pronunciation
Suffix
- (jodōshi) Used to make the volitional form of verbs.
- Expressing one's will to do something.
- そろそろ寝よう。
- Sorosoro neyō.
- I go to bed before long.
- そうしよう。
- Sō shiyō.
- I will do so.
- 美味しいものを食べようと思っています。
- Oishī mono o tabeyō to omotte imasu.
- I'm thinking about eating something delicious.
- 出かけようとした時、電話がかかってきた。
- Dekakeyō to shita toki, denwa ga kakatte kita.
- I got a phone call when I was about to go out.
- そろそろ寝よう。
- Inducing or stimulating other person to do something.
- さあ、始めよう。
- Sā, hajimeyō.
- Let's get started.
- さあ、始めよう。
- (archaic) Presenting a supposition.
- Expressing one's will to do something.
Usage notes
Attaches only to the 未然形 (mizenkei, “irrealis or incomplete form”) of Group II (ichidan) and Group III (irregular) verbs.
- 起きる (okiru) → 起きよう (oki-yō)
- 食べる (taberu) → 食べよう (tabe-yō)
- 来る (kuru) → 来よう (ko-yō)
- する (suru) → しよう (shi-yō)
The volitional form of Group I (godan) verbs are formed with う (-u) instead of よう (-yō), with further sound changes.
In traditional Japanese grammar, this is a 助動詞 (jodōshi, “auxiliary verb”), with the sole form よう (yō) as the 終止形 (shūshikei, “terminal form”) and the 連体形 (rentaikei, “adnominal form”).
See also
Etymology 4
Pronunciation
Interjection
- A very informal greeting similar to yo.
- よう、元気?
- Yō, genki?
- Yo! Howdy?
- よう、元気?
- A very informal (rude) interjection similar to hey.
- よう、待てよ。
- Yō, mateyo.
- Hey, wait.
- よう、待てよ。
Usage notes
Women or gentlemen generally use ねえ (nē) instead of よう (yō). よう (yō) is masculine but gives a rude impression at times; ねえ (nē) is more graceful.
Synonyms
References
- ↑ 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
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Matsumura, Akira (1995) 大辞泉 [Daijisen] (in Japanese), First edition, Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
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