仮借

Japanese

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
仮	借
か Grade: 5	しゃ Grade: 4
kan'on	on'yomi

Alternative spelling
假借 (kyūjitai)

Ultimately from Middle Chinese 假借 (MC kaeX|kaeH tsjaeH|tsjek). First attested in Japanese in the 1470s.

Originally referred to "mercy, allowance, indulgence". This sense slowly shifted to the kashaku reading starting from the early 1600s.

The "phonetic loan" sense may be a relatively newer orthographic borrowing from Chinese 假借. First attested in Japanese in 1791.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) かしゃ [káꜜshà] (Atamadaka – [1])
• IPA^(key): [ka̠ɕa̠]

Noun

仮(か)借(しゃ) • (kasha) ^{←かしや (kasya)?}

1. [from 1791] (Chinese character classification) phonetic loan (one of the six types, 六(りく)書(しょ) (rikusho), of Chinese characters or kanji)

   As an example, the character 豆 (dòu) in Chinese was initially an illustration of a container on legs. This was later borrowed to spell the homophonic word for bean. Another example is the character 而 (ér), originally an illustration of a beard, and later used to spell the homophonic word for and, and then.

2. [from 1470s] (archaic) mercy, allowance, indulgence: the deliberate overlooking of another's faults or transgressions

See also

• (Japanese) 当(あ)て字(じ) (ateji)
• (Korean) 음가자 (eumgaja)
• 六書(りくしょ) (rikusho, “the six types of Han characters”)
  • 指(し)事(じ) (shiji, “ideogram”)
  • 象(しょう)形(けい) (shōkei, “pictogram”)
  • 形(けい)声(せい) (keisei, “phono-semantic compound”)
  • 会(かい)意(い) (kaii, “compound ideograph”)
  • 転(てん)注(ちゅう) (tenchū, “derivative cognate”)
  • 仮(か)借(しゃ) (kasha, “phonetic loan”)

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
仮	借
か Grade: 5	しゃく Grade: 4
kan'on	goon

Alternative spelling
假借 (kyūjitai)

Ultimately from Middle Chinese 假借 (MC kaeX|kaeH tsjaeH|tsjek). First attested in Japanese with this kashaku reading in the early 1600s, as a shift from the older kasha reading.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) かしゃく [kàshákú] (Heiban – [0])
• IPA^(key): [ka̠ɕa̠kɯ̟]

Noun

仮(か)借(しゃく) • (kashaku) ^{←かしやく (kasyaku)?}

1. [from early 1600s] mercy, allowance, indulgence: the deliberate overlooking of another's faults or transgressions

Usage notes

In modern usage, often used in negative constructions.

Derived terms

• 仮(か)借(しゃく)ない (kashakunai, “merciless, ruthless, unsparing”)

Verb

仮(か)借(しゃく)する • (kashaku suru) ^{←かしやく (kasyaku)?}suru (stem 仮(か)借(しゃく)し (kashaku shi), past 仮(か)借(しゃく)した (kashaku shita))

1. [from early 1600s] to show mercy, to allow, to indulge, to countenance, to tolerate: to deliberately overlook another's faults or transgressions

Usage notes

In modern usage, often used in negative constructions.

Conjugation

Conjugation of "仮借する" (See Appendix:Japanese verbs)

Katsuyōkei ("stem forms")
Mizenkei ("imperfective")	仮借し	かしゃくし	kashaku shi
Ren’yōkei ("continuative")	仮借し	かしゃくし	kashaku shi
Shūshikei ("terminal")	仮借する	かしゃくする	kashaku suru
Rentaikei ("attributive")	仮借する	かしゃくする	kashaku suru
Kateikei ("hypothetical")	仮借すれ	かしゃくすれ	kashaku sure
Meireikei ("imperative")	仮借せよ¹ 仮借しろ²	かしゃくせよ¹ かしゃくしろ²	kashaku seyo¹ kashaku shiro²
Key constructions
Passive	仮借される	かしゃくされる	kashaku sareru
Causative	仮借させる 仮借さす	かしゃくさせる かしゃくさす	kashaku saseru kashaku sasu
Potential	仮借できる	かしゃくできる	kashaku dekiru
Volitional	仮借しよう	かしゃくしよう	kashaku shiyō
Negative	仮借しない	かしゃくしない	kashaku shinai
Negative continuative	仮借せず	かしゃくせず	kashaku sezu
Formal	仮借します	かしゃくします	kashaku shimasu
Perfective	仮借した	かしゃくした	kashaku shita
Conjunctive	仮借して	かしゃくして	kashaku shite
Hypothetical conditional	仮借すれば	かしゃくすれば	kashaku sureba

¹ Written imperative
² Spoken imperative

References

• “仮^△借”, in 漢字ぺディア [Kanjipedia]‎^[3] (in Japanese), The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 2015–2026