体言

See also: 體言

Chinese

For pronunciation and definitions of 体言 – see 體言 (“uninflected/indeclinable word, indeclinable nominal”). (This term is the simplified form of 體言).

Notes: Simplified Chinese is mainly used in Mainland China, Malaysia, and Singapore. Traditional Chinese is mainly used in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.

Japanese

Kanji in this term
体	言
たい Grade: 2	げん Grade: 2
goon	kan’on

Alternative spelling
體言 (kyūjitai)

Etymology

Coinage in Japanese from Middle Chinese-derived components, as a compound of 体 (tai, “body”) +‎ 言 (gen, “word”), literally “substantive word”. Compare English substantive.

In Japanese grammar, contrasts with 用言 (yōgen, “inflecting word”, literally “function word”). See also the dichotomy of 体用 (taiyō, “substance and function”).

First cited in 1851.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) た​いげん [táꜜìgèǹ] (Atamadaka – [1])
• IPA^(key): [ta̠iɡẽ̞ɴ]

Noun

体(たい)言(げん) • (taigen) 

1. [from 1851] (grammar) a Japanese or Korean word that does not inflect and can be used as a grammatical subject

   Hypernym: 自立語 (jiritsugo, “independent word, free-standing word”)

   Hyponyms: 数詞 (sūshi, “numeral”), 代名詞 (daimeishi, “pronoun”), 名詞 (meishi, “noun”)

   Coordinate term: 用言 (yōgen, “inflecting word”)

See also

• 連体(れんたい) (rentai, “attribution”)