形式名詞

Japanese

Kanji in this term
形	式	名	詞
けい Grade: 2	しき Grade: 3	めい Grade: 1	し Grade: 6
kan’on	goon	kan’on

Examples
物 (mono, “thing”) nominalizes 日記と言う (nikki to iu, “call(s) a diary”) in the phrase 日記と言うもの (nikki to iu mono, “the thing that one calls a diary”) 事 (koto, “matter; affair”) nominalizes 書く (kaku, “write(s)”) in the phrase 書くこと (kaku koto, “the act(tivity) of writing”) 時 (toki, “time”) nominalizes 嬉しい (ureshii, “am/are/is happy”) in the phrase 嬉しい時 (ureshii toki, “the time when one's happy”)

Etymology

形式 (“form; formality; format”) +‎ 名詞 (“noun”), literally “noun in form only”

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) けーしきめ​ーし [kèéshíkí méꜜèshì] (Nakadaka – [5])
• IPA^(key): [ke̞ːɕi̥kʲi me̞ːɕi]

Noun

形(けい)式(しき)名(めい)詞(し) • (keishiki meishi) 

1. a Japanese noun that can be grammaticalized and nominalize clauses