軟派

Japanese

Kanji in this term
軟	派
なん Grade: S	は > ぱ Grade: 6
kan'yōon

Etymology

Compound of 軟(なん) (nan, “soft; gentle”) + 派(は) (ha, “faction, school”). Literally, “the soft school”. The ha changes to pa as an instance of rendaku (連(れん)濁(だく)).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) なんぱ [náꜜǹpà] (Atamadaka – [1])
• (Tokyo) なんぱ [nàńpá] (Heiban – [0])
• IPA^(key): [nã̠mpa̠]

Noun

軟(なん)派(ぱ) • (nanpa) 

1. a person lacking firm convictions; one who is willing to compromise; the moderates, the dovish faction

   軟(なん)派(ぱ)の議(ぎ)員(いん) ― nanpa no gīn ― legislator with a soft approach

2. (journalism) journalist who writes articles on culture, entertainment, and social relations
3. (sometimes derogatory) attitude of enjoying or individual that enjoys dating women or paying attention to fashion
4. ナンパ: street flirting of women by men for romantic or sexual purposes; pickup

   Antonym: 逆ナン (gyakunan)

Antonyms

• (senses 1 to 3) 硬(こう)派(は) (kōha)

Derived terms

• 逆(ぎゃく)ナン (gyakunan)

Verb

軟(なん)派(ぱ)する • (nanpa suru) suru (stem 軟(なん)派(ぱ)し (nanpa shi), past 軟(なん)派(ぱ)した (nanpa shita))

1. to pick up, hit on, flirt

   ナンパして遊(あそ)びに行(い)く

   nanpa shite asobi ni iku

   flirt (with a woman) to go out with her for fun

Conjugation

Conjugation of "軟派する" (See Appendix:Japanese verbs)

Katsuyōkei ("stem forms")
Mizenkei ("imperfective")	軟派し	なんぱし	nanpa shi
Ren’yōkei ("continuative")	軟派し	なんぱし	nanpa shi
Shūshikei ("terminal")	軟派する	なんぱする	nanpa suru
Rentaikei ("attributive")	軟派する	なんぱする	nanpa suru
Kateikei ("hypothetical")	軟派すれ	なんぱすれ	nanpa sure
Meireikei ("imperative")	軟派せよ¹ 軟派しろ²	なんぱせよ¹ なんぱしろ²	nanpa seyo¹ nanpa shiro²
Key constructions
Passive	軟派される	なんぱされる	nanpa sareru
Causative	軟派させる 軟派さす	なんぱさせる なんぱさす	nanpa saseru nanpa sasu
Potential	軟派できる	なんぱできる	nanpa dekiru
Volitional	軟派しよう	なんぱしよう	nanpa shiyō
Negative	軟派しない	なんぱしない	nanpa shinai
Negative continuative	軟派せず	なんぱせず	nanpa sezu
Formal	軟派します	なんぱします	nanpa shimasu
Perfective	軟派した	なんぱした	nanpa shita
Conjunctive	軟派して	なんぱして	nanpa shite
Hypothetical conditional	軟派すれば	なんぱすれば	nanpa sureba

¹ Written imperative
² Spoken imperative

References

• “軟派”, in 漢字ぺディア [Kanjipedia]‎^[1] (in Japanese), The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 2015–2026