大きい

Japanese

Kanji in this term
大
おお
Grade: 1
kun’yomi
See also 大きな

Alternative forms

Etymology

/opoki/ → /oɸoki/ → /oɸokiki/ → /owokiː/ → /oːkiː/

Appears in the Muromachi period, 1337 to 1573 CE.

From older adjectival noun 大 (おお)き (ōki), derived from attributive form ōki of cognate adjective ōshi (meaning both “large” or “many”, spelled as 多 (おお)し (ōshi) or 大 (おお)し (ōshi), modern Japanese 多 (おお)い (ōi, “many”)), in turn derived from Old Japanese adjectival noun opo (“indistinct; of uncertain size, shape, or amount”; read as ō in modern Japanese, spelled as 凡 or 大).

Pronunciation

Adjective

大きい (-i inflection, hiragana おおきい, rōmaji ōkii, historical hiragana おほきい)

  1. big
  2. broad, immense

Usage notes

大 (おお)きい (ōkī) and 大 (おお)きな (ōkina) are essentially the same word. However, while ōkii can be used both attributively and to end a sentence, ōkina can only be used attributively, and must be followed by a noun or noun phrase.

  • Correct grammar:
    あの車 (くるま)は大 (おお)きい。/あの車 (くるま)は大 (おお)きいです。
    Ano kuruma wa ōkī. / Ano kuruma wa ōkī desu.
    That car is big.
  • Incorrect grammar:
    あの車 (くるま)は大 (おお)きな。/あの車 (くるま)は大 (おお)きなです。
    Ano kuruma wa ōkina. / Ano kuruma wa ōkina desu.
    *That car is a big __.

Since 大 (おお)きな (ōkina) can only be used attributively, a noun always follows it.

Inflection

Synonyms

Antonyms

References

  1. ↑ 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, →ISBN
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