みやび

Japanese

Alternative spelling

Etymology

From Old Japanese. First cited in the Nihon Shoki of 720.[1]

Derived as the (れん)(よう)(けい) (ren'yōkei, stem or continuative form) of the verb みやぶ (to be courtly, elegant, refined, high-quality), in turn from (miya, palace, imperial court) + (bu, verb-forming suffix with a meaning of "to seem like, to have that quality").[1][2]

Pronunciation

  • (Tokyo) やび [mìyábí] (Heiban – [0])[2]
  • IPA(key): [mʲija̠bʲi]

Adjective

みやび • (miyabiみやび (myabi)?-na (adnominal みやび (miyabi na), adverbial みやび (miyabi ni))

  1. [from 720] courtly, elegant, refined, high-quality

Usage notes

Also found in the oldest sources with the -to / -taru inflection used with adjectives such as 堂々 (dōdō, grand, stately, imposing).

Inflection

Coordinate terms

  • さとび (satobi)

Noun

みやび • (miyabiみやび (myabi)?

  1. [from 720] courtliness, elegance, refinement, high quality

Synonyms

Proper noun

For pronunciation and definitions of みやび – see the following entry.
雅美まさみ
[proper noun] a female given name
Alternative spellings
まみ, まさえ, もとみ, がび
(This term, みやび (miyabi), is the hiragana spelling of the above term.)
For a list of all kanji read as みやび, see Category:Japanese kanji read as みやび.)

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典(新装版) [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
  2. 2.0 2.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN