酸い

Japanese
Kanji in this term
酸
す
Grade: 5
kun’yomi

Etymology

From the Middle Chinese noun for vinegar, probably 醋 (tsʰuo, “vinegar”), plus the native Old Japanese adjective suffix し (shi, modern い i).[1] Appears as early as the late Heian period, in the 今昔物語集 (Konjaku Monogatari Shū, “Anthology of Tales from Today and Yesterday”).

The adjective's older terminal form of sushi remains as the derivation of the modern noun 寿司 (sushi).

The spelling with the kanji 酸 is based on synonyms in Chinese: 酢, 醋, and 酸 all have senses related to sour, and all three can be used in Japanese to spell su (“vinegar”).

Pronunciation

Adjective

酸い (-i inflection, hiragana すい, rōmaji sui)

  1. vinegary, sour
    • c. 1120–1140, Konjaku Monogatarishū
      酒少 (さけすこ)し濁 (にご)りてすき様 (やう)なれど
      sake sukoshi nigorite suki yau naredo
      Although the sake seems a bit cloudy and sour...

Inflection
Inflection of 酸い
Stem forms
Imperfective (未然形) 酸かろ すかろ sukaro
Continuative (連用形) 酸く すく suku
Terminal (終止形) 酸い すい sui
Attributive (連体形) 酸い すい sui
Hypothetical (仮定形) 酸けれ すけれ sukere
Imperative (命令形) 酸かれ すかれ sukare
Key constructions
Informal negative 酸くない すくない suku nai
Informal past 酸かった すかった sukatta
Informal negative past 酸くなかった すくなかった suku nakatta
Formal 酸いです すいです sui desu
Formal negative 酸くないです すくないです suku nai desu
Formal past 酸かったです すかったです sukatta desu
Formal negative past 酸くなかったです すくなかったです suku nakatta desu
Conjunctive 酸くて すくて sukute
Conditional 酸ければ すければ sukereba
Provisional 酸かったら すかったら sukattara
Volitional 酸かろう すかろう sukarō
Adverbial 酸く すく suku
Degree 酸さ すさ susa

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
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.