軽い

Japanese

Kanji in this term
軽
かる Grade: 3
kun'yomi

Alternative spelling
輕い (kyūjitai)

Etymology

From Old Japanese,^[1] in turn from Proto-Japonic *karu. In Old Japanese, seldom used outside of proper nouns, where in the Kojiki it is spelled as 加流 and in the Man'yōshū it is spelled as 軽,^[1]^[2] suggesting that this word was already used in Old Japanese with the meaning "light, lightweight". This might be weakly strengthened by a kana annotation of 軽 as karu(ku) in the Nihon Shoki.^[1]

It is generally believed that karu(si) was the older form; this is also supported by Ryukyuan cognates (see Proto-Ryukyuan *karu). In the Heian period and Kamakura period, the variant かろし (karoshi) → かろい (karoi) has started to be in use, while 軽し (karushi) → 軽い (karui) has still seldom usage.

Later, both karosi and karusi began to be used in parallel. Then, in Early Modern Japanese, karui slowly began to replace karoi.

Pronunciation

(Tokyo) かるい [kàrúí] (Heiban – [0])^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]
IPA^(key): [ka̠ɾɯ̟i]

Tokyo pitch accent of inflected forms of 軽い

Plain	軽い	かるい	`[kàrúí]`
Conjunctive	軽くて	かるくて	`[kàrúꜜkùtè]`
Continuative	軽く	かるく	`[kàrúkú]`
Negative	軽くない	かるくない	`[kàrúkú náꜜì]`
Past	軽かった	かるかった	`[kàrúꜜkàttà]`
Negative past	軽くなかった	かるくなかった	`[kàrúkú náꜜkàttà]`
Conditional	軽ければ	かるければ	`[kàrúꜜkèrèbà]`
Terminal	軽い	かるいかるい	`[kàrúí]` `[kàrúꜜì]`
Formal	軽いです	かるいです	`[kàrúꜜì dèsù]`

Adjective

軽(かる)い • (karui) -i (adverbial 軽(かる)く (karuku))

light, lightweight
軽(かる)い荷(に)物(もつ)
karui nimotsu
light baggage
slight, light, mild
軽(かる)い罰(ばつ)
karui batsu
a light punishment

軽(かる)い肺炎(はいえん)
karui haien
mild pneumonia
easy
軽(かる)い仕(し)事(ごと)
karui shigoto
an easy job
talkative
彼女(かのじょ)は口(くち)の軽(かる)い女(おんな)だ。
Kanojo wa kuchi no karui onna da.
She is a talkative woman.

Inflection

Inflection of 軽い
Stem forms
Imperfective (未然形)	軽かろ	かるかろ	karukaro
Continuative (連用形)	軽く	かるく	karuku
Terminal (終止形)	軽い	かるい	karui
Attributive (連体形)	軽い	かるい	karui
Hypothetical (仮定形)	軽けれ	かるけれ	karukere
Imperative (命令形)	軽かれ	かるかれ	karukare
Key constructions
Informal negative	軽くない	かるくない	karuku nai
Informal past	軽かった	かるかった	karukatta
Informal negative past	軽くなかった	かるくなかった	karuku nakatta
Formal	軽いです	かるいです	karui desu
Formal negative	軽くないです	かるくないです	karuku nai desu
Formal past	軽かったです	かるかったです	karukatta desu
Formal negative past	軽くなかったです	かるくなかったです	karuku nakatta desu
Conjunctive	軽くて	かるくて	karukute
Conditional	軽ければ	かるければ	karukereba
Provisional	軽かったら	かるかったら	karukattara
Volitional	軽かろう	かるかろう	karukarō
Adverbial	軽く	かるく	karuku
Degree	軽さ	かるさ	karusa

Antonyms

(antonym(s) of “light”): 重(おも)い (omoi)

Derived terms

フッ軽(かる) (fukkaru)

References

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 Omodaka, Hisataka (1967), 時代別国語大辞典上代編 [The dictionary of historical Japanese: Old Japanese] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN, page 234
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 “かる・い【軽】”, in 日本国語大辞典 [Nihon Kokugo Daijiten]‎^[1] (in Japanese), 2nd edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, 2000-2002, released online 2007, →ISBN, concise edition entry available here
^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
^ NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN
^ Kindaichi, Kyōsuke et al., editors (1974), 新明解国語辞典 [Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten] (in Japanese), Second edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō

“軽い”, in 漢字ぺディア [Kanjipedia]‎^[2] (in Japanese), The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 2015–2026

[JDB-1] 1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 Omodaka, Hisataka (1967), 時代別国語大辞典上代編 [The dictionary of historical Japanese: Old Japanese] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN, page 234

[KDJ2O-2] 2.0 ^2.1 “かる・い【軽】”, in 日本国語大辞典 [Nihon Kokugo Daijiten]‎^[1] (in Japanese), 2nd edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, 2000-2002, released online 2007, →ISBN, concise edition entry available here

[DJR-3] Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

[NHK-4] NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN

[SMK2-5] Kindaichi, Kyōsuke et al., editors (1974), 新明解国語辞典 [Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten] (in Japanese), Second edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō

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