すぐ

See also: すく and ずく

Japanese

Etymology 1

Alternative spellings
直ぐ直

From Old Japanese, from Proto-Japonic *sunku. Cognate with Northern Amami Ōshima 直ぐ (sïgu), Okinawan 直ぐ (sigu), Miyako 直ぐ (sugu), Yaeyama 直ぐ (sïgu), Yonaguni 直く゚ (chi'ngu).

Likely derived from root verb form sugu. The expected adjectival or adverbial form would be sugi, but there is evidence for sugu used in this way in ancient eastern dialects.^[1]

Notably, the modern verbs 過ぎる (sugiru) and 挿げる (sugeru) derived from sugu (see further below) have shared underlying senses of “going through; directly; without stopping or turning”, indicative of this common root.

Pronunciation

(Tokyo) すぐ [súꜜgù] (Atamadaka – [1])^[2]
IPA^(key): [sɨɡɯ̟]

Adjective

すぐ • (sugu) -na (adnominal すぐな (sugu na), adverbial すぐに (sugu ni))

straight, not bent

Adverb

すぐ • (sugu)

直ぐ: immediately, right away, soon
すぐ行(い)くよ
sugu iku yo
I'll be there right away.
直ぐ: quick to
すぐ怒(おこ)る
sugu okoru
quick to anger
直ぐ: right next to, right close by
すぐ上(うえ)に
sugu ue ni
right on top

コンビニはすぐそこだよ。
Konbini wa sugu soko da yo.
The convenience store is right over there.

Synonyms

(soon): そろそろ (sorosoro), 直(じき) (jiki), 直(じか) (jika), 直(ただ)ち (tadachi)

Derived terms

すぐに (sugu ni): immediately; directly
すぐと (sugu to): immediately; directly
真(ま)っ直(す)ぐ (massugu): straight; straightforward, honest

Etymology 2

Verb

すぐ • (sugu) ^†nidan

(obsolete) 挿ぐ: classical form of modern 挿げる (sugeru, “to connect or affix one thing to another, especially by passing something through something else”)

Etymology 3

Verb

すぐ • (sugu)

imperfective and stem (or continuative) forms of すぐる (suguru) [ichidan]

Etymology 4

For pronunciation and definitions of すぐ – see the following entry.

【過ぐ】	[verb] (Classical Japanese, archaic) to pass; to go beyond [verb] (Classical Japanese, archaic) to elapse; to exceed

(This term, すぐ (sugu), is the hiragana spelling of the above term.)
For a list of all kanji read as すぐ, see Category:Japanese kanji read as すぐ.)

References

^ Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

Miyako

Adverb

すぐ (sugu)

直ぐ: immediately

[KDJ-1] Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN

[DJR-2] Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

[1]

[2]