いよいよ

Japanese

Alternative spellings

愈々
愈愈

弥々
弥弥

Etymology

Reduplication of the archaic adverb いよ (iyo, more and more, increasingly), shift of いや (iya, more and more, increasingly), in turn from the prefix (i) and the adverb (ya, more and more, increasingly).

Pronunciation

  • (Tokyo) いよ [ìyóꜜìyò] (Nakadaka – [2])[1]
  • IPA(key): [ijo̞ijo̞]

Adverb

いよいよ • (iyoiyo

  1. more and more; increasingly
    Synonym: ますます (masumasu)
  2. finally; at last
    Synonym: とうとう (tōtō)
  3. indeed; really; no doubt
    Synonym: 確か (tashika ni)

References

  1. ^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN