ばかり

See also: はかり

Japanese

Etymology

Hiragana ばかり
Kanji 許り

Shift from noun 計り, 測り, 量り (hakari, measurement, amount, full amount), the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, continuative or stem form) of verb 計る, 測る, 量る (hakaru, to measure, to weigh, to calculate).[1][2] The meaning seems to have shifted from amount to fully, and from there to just or only.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ba̠ka̠ɾʲi]

Particle

ばかり (rōmaji bakari)

  1. (〜たばかり -ta bakari) just (recently completed action)
     ()べたばかりだ。
    Tabeta bakari da.
    I just ate.
  2. (noun + ばかり) full of
     (とう) (きょう) (ひと)ばかりだ。
    Tōkyō wa hito bakari da.
    Tokyo is just full of people.
  3. (〜てばかり -te bakari) only, always
     (かれ) ()べてばかり ()る。
    Kare wa tabete bakari iru.
    He's always eating.

Usage notes

Used in various senses, similarly to English just – "just did something", "just full of", "just sitting there". Senses are distinguished grammatically, as per forms above.

Derived terms

Idioms

  •  (うた)にばかり (うた) (uta ni bakari utau)

Proverbs

References

  1. 1988, 国語大辞典(新装版) (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
  2. 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
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