仕える

Japanese

Kanji in this term
Grade: 3

Etymology

From Old Japanese root verb つく (tsuku, to stick at/into/onto/to) → by extension, "to obey a person, to take a job, to serve a purpose".

Incomplete stem つか (tsuka) + auxiliary verb (fu, repetition, ongoing state) (becoming verb ending (u) in modern Japanese) → つかう (tsukau, to use).

Conjugation into potential form → つかえる (tsukaeru, to be capable of being used; to be useful).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [t͡sɨᵝka̠e̞ɾɯ̟ᵝ]

Verb

仕える (intransitive, ichidan conjugation, hiragana つかえる, rōmaji tsukaeru, historical hiragana つかへる)

  1. to serve, serve under, take service under
  2. to enter public service

Usage notes

Unlike the English verb serve, which can take the object of service as a grammatical object, 仕える is always intransitive, and takes the particle (ni) to specify the person, goal, etc. being served. From the etymology and grammar, a more idiomatic translation into English might be "to be useful to someone", where the bold "to" corresponds to the particle in the Japanese. Note that this grammatical correspondence may disappear in a more idiomatic translation.

Examples:

  •  (もっと) (たか)目的 (もくてき) (つか)える
    motto mo takai mokuteki ni tsukaeru
    to be useful to the highest purpose → to serve the highest purpose
  • この数年間 (すうねんかん)父母 (ちちはは) (つか)えている。
    Kono sūnenkan, chichihaha ni tsukaeteiru.
    I have been being useful to my parents for several years now. → I have been taking care of my parents for several years now.

Conjugation

Phrases

Idioms

  • すまじきものは宮仕 (みやづか) (sumajiki mono wa miyazukae): it is better to work for oneself than to work for someone else

Alternative forms

  • (rare)  (つか)える (tsukaeru)

Synonyms

Derived terms

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