手前
Japanese
Etymology 1
| Kanji in this term | |
|---|---|
| 手 | 前 |
| て Grade: 1 |
まえ Grade: 2 |
| kun'yomi | |
Compound of Old Japanese elements 手 (te, “hand”) + 前 (mae, “front”), originally meaning “that which is just in front of one's hand”.[1][2][3]
Pronunciation
Noun
- position that is just in front or before; in the nearer position
- Antonym: 奥 (oku)
- あの店は交差点の手前にある。
- Ano mise wa kōsaten no temae ni aru.
- That store is just in front of the intersection.
Pronoun
- (dated, humble, men's speech) I, me (who stands before you)
- (rare, informal, sometimes derogatory) you
Antonyms
- (antonym(s) of “distant”): 奥 (oku)
Etymology 2
| Kanji in this term | |
|---|---|
| 手 | 前 |
| て Grade: 1 |
まえ > めえ Grade: 2 |
| kun'yomi | |
| Alternative spelling |
|---|
| てめぇ |
Corruption of temae. The vowel shift emphasizes the confrontational sense of the term.[2][3] This flattening of diphthongs to monophthongs is characteristic of Tokyo's Shitamachi dialect. Compare おめえ (omē, from お前 (omae)), ねえ (nē, from ない), やべえ (yabē, from やばい (yabai)).
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
Pronoun
手前 • (temē)
- (vulgar, derogatory, men's speech) you, you son of a bitch, you bastard
Usage notes
Usually spelled in hiragana as てめえ.
Synonyms
References
- ^ Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典(新装版) [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Kindaichi, Kyōsuke et al., editors (1997), 新明解国語辞典 [Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten] (in Japanese), Fifth edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN