お腹が空く

Japanese

Kanji in this term
なか
Grade: 6

Grade: 1
kun’yomi

Etymology

Phrase composed of お腹 (onaka, belly, stomach) + (ga, subject particle) + 空く (suku, to become empty).[1][2]

Often found in reference materials with onaka spelled as 御中 or お中 instead; see those entries for details. The spelling お腹 is used more often for this hungry sense.

Pronunciation

Verb

お腹が空く (hiragana おなかがすく, rōmaji onaka ga suku)

  1. to become hungry

Conjugation

Usage notes

Most often encountered in the perfective form, as お腹が空いた (onaka ga suita, literally “[my] belly has become empty”, used idiomatically to mean “[I] am hungry”).

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.