軽い

Japanese
Kanji in this term
軽
かる
Grade: 3
kun’yomi
Alternative spelling
輕い (kyūjitai)

Etymology

From Old Japanese,[1] in turn from Proto-Japonic *karu. In Old Japanese, seldom used outside of proper nouns, where in the Kojiki it is spelled as 加流 and in the Man'yōshū it is spelled as 軽,[1][2] suggesting that this word was already used in Old Japanese with the meaning "light, lightweight". This might be weakly strengthened by a kana annotation of 軽 as karu(ku) in the Nihon Shoki.[1]

It is generally believed that karu(si) was the older form; this is also supported by Ryukyuan cognates (see Proto-Ryukyuan *karu). In the Heian period and Kamakura period, the variant かろし (karoshi) → かろい (karoi) has started to be in use, while 軽し (karushi) → 軽い (karui) has still seldom usage.

Later, both karosi and karusi began to be used in parallel. Then, in Early Modern Japanese, karui slowly began to replace karoi.

Pronunciation
  • Tokyo pitch accent of inflected forms of "軽い"
Source: Online Japanese Accent Dictionary
Stem forms
Continuative (連用形) 軽く かるく [kàrúkú]
Terminal (終止形) 軽い かるい
かる​い		 [kàrúí]
[kàrúꜜì]
Attributive (連体形) 軽い かるい [kàrúí]
Key constructions
Informal negative 軽くない かるくな​い [kàrúkúnáꜜì]
Informal past 軽かった かる​かった [kàrúꜜkàttà]
Informal negative past 軽くなかった かるくな​かった [kàrúkúnáꜜkàttà]
Formal 軽いです かる​いです [kàrúꜜìdèsù]
Conjunctive 軽くて かる​くて [kàrúꜜkùtè]
Conditional 軽ければ かる​ければ [kàrúꜜkèrèbà]

Adjective

軽(かる)い • (karui) -i (adverbial 軽(かる)く (karuku))

  1. light, lightweight
    軽(かる)い荷(に)物(もつ)
    karui nimotsu
    light baggage
  2. slight, light, mild
    軽(かる)い罰(ばつ)
    karui batsu
    a light punishment
    軽(かる)い肺炎(はいえん)
    karui haien
    mild pneumonia
  3. easy
    軽(かる)い仕(し)事(ごと)
    karui shigoto
    an easy job
  4. talkative
    彼女(かのじょ)は口(くち)の軽(かる)い女(おんな)だ。
    Kanojo wa kuchi no karui onna da.
    She is a talkative woman.

Inflection
Inflection of 軽い
Stem forms
Imperfective (未然形) 軽かろ かるかろ karukaro
Continuative (連用形) 軽く かるく karuku
Terminal (終止形) 軽い かるい karui
Attributive (連体形) 軽い かるい karui
Hypothetical (仮定形) 軽けれ かるけれ karukere
Imperative (命令形) 軽かれ かるかれ karukare
Key constructions
Informal negative 軽くない かるくない karuku nai
Informal past 軽かった かるかった karukatta
Informal negative past 軽くなかった かるくなかった karuku nakatta
Formal 軽いです かるいです karui desu
Formal negative 軽くないです かるくないです karuku nai desu
Formal past 軽かったです かるかったです karukatta desu
Formal negative past 軽くなかったです かるくなかったです karuku nakatta desu
Conjunctive 軽くて かるくて karukute
Conditional 軽ければ かるければ karukereba
Provisional 軽かったら かるかったら karukattara
Volitional 軽かろう かるかろう karukarō
Adverbial 軽く かるく karuku
Degree 軽さ かるさ karusa

Antonyms

References
  1. Omodaka, Hisataka (1967) 時代別国語大辞典 上代編 [The dictionary of historical Japanese: Old Japanese] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN, page 234
  2. “かる・い 【軽】”, in 日本国語大辞典 (Nihon Kokugo Daijiten, “Nihon Kokugo Daijiten”) Paid subscription required‎ (in Japanese), 2nd edition, Tōkyō: Shogakukan, 2000, released online 2007, →ISBN, concise edition entry available here (Note: Dialectal meanings, etymological theories, pronunciation including modern, dialectal, and historical information, Jōdai Tokushu Kanazukai, historical dictionaries containing this word, and the kanji spellings in those dictionaries have been omitted.)
  3. Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  4. NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK Publishing, →ISBN
  5. Kindaichi, Kyōsuke et al., editors (1974), 新明解国語辞典 [Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten] (in Japanese), Second edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō
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