静か

Japanese

Kanji in this term
しず
Grade: 4
kun’yomi

Alternative forms

  • 閑か

Etymology

Compound of (shizu, bound morpheme indicating “quietness” or “calmness”) + (-ka, suffixing element used to form na adjectives). The shizu portion is cognate with the shizu in 静む (shizumu, to become quiet), 沈む (shizumu, to sink; to set (such as the sun or moon); to become depressed).[1][2] This shizu might also be related to (shita, down; below).

Pronunciation

Adjective

静か (-na inflection, hiragana しずか, rōmaji shizuka, historical hiragana しづか)

  1. inaudible, quiet, silent
     (しず) (きん) (じょ) (この)ましいです。
    Shizuka na kinjo ga konomashii desu.
    I prefer quiet neighbourhoods.
     (しず)です。
    Shizuka desu.
    It's quiet.
    ここでは (しず) () (こう) (のぞ)みます。
    Koko de wa shizuka na hokō o nozomimasu.
    We prefer an inaudible walk [tread] here.
  2. calm, tranquil
  3. still, stopped and not moving
  4. not busy

Usage notes

For degree, corresponding to the English quietness, both 静かさ (shizukasa) and 静けさ (shizukesa) can be used, but 静けさ (shizukesa) may be more common. Note that shizukesa derives from the related archaic adjective 靜けし (shizukeshi, quiet, calm).

Inflection

Synonyms

Antonyms

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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