生ける

Japanese

Kanji in this term
生
い Grade: 1
kun'yomi

Alternative spelling
活ける

Etymology 1

From the classical verb 生く.

Development

Natural progression from Old and Classical Japanese 下二段活用 (shimo nidan katsuyō, “lower bigrade conjugation”) verbs ending in -u to modern Japanese 下一段活用 (shimo ichidan katsuyō, “lower monograde conjugation”) verbs ending in -eru.

Pronunciation

(Tokyo) いける [ìkéꜜrù] (Nakadaka – [2])
IPA^(key): [ike̞ɾɯ̟]

Verb

生(い)ける • (ikeru) transitive ichidan (stem 生(い)け (ike), past 生(い)けた (iketa))

Japanese verb pair
active	生ける
mediopassive	生きる

to put or arrange in a vase
花(はな)を生(い)ける
hana o ikeru
to arrange flowers

Usage notes

Used of arranging flowers or other plants in a vase for decorative purposes.

Conjugation

Conjugation of "生ける" (See Appendix:Japanese verbs)

Katsuyōkei ("stem forms")
Mizenkei ("imperfective")	生け	いけ	ike
Ren’yōkei ("continuative")	生け	いけ	ike
Shūshikei ("terminal")	生ける	いける	ikeru
Rentaikei ("attributive")	生ける	いける	ikeru
Kateikei ("hypothetical")	生けれ	いけれ	ikere
Meireikei ("imperative")	生けよ¹ 生けろ²	いけよ¹ いけろ²	ikeyo¹ ikero²
Key constructions
Passive	生けられる	いけられる	ikerareru
Causative	生けさせる生けさす	いけさせるいけさす	ikesaseru ikesasu
Potential	生けられる生けれる³	いけられるいけれる³	ikerareru ikereru³
Volitional	生けよう	いけよう	ikeyō
Negative	生けない生けぬ生けん	いけないいけぬいけん	ikenai ikenu iken
Negative continuative	生けず	いけず	ikezu
Formal	生けます	いけます	ikemasu
Perfective	生けた	いけた	iketa
Conjunctive	生けて	いけて	ikete
Hypothetical conditional	生ければ	いければ	ikereba
¹ Written imperative ² Spoken imperative ³ Colloquial potential

Derived terms

生(い)け花(ばな) (ikebana)

Etymology 2

From 生(い)き (iki), the 連用形(れんようけい) (ren'yōkei, “continuative form”) of 生(い)く (iku), plus ある (aru), the 連体形(れんたいけい) (rentaikei, “attributive form”) of the classical copula あり (ari), indicating an ongoing action (of "living").

This has been later reanalyzed as 生(い)け (ike, 已然形(いぜんけい) (izenkei, “realis”) of 生く) + る (ru, continuative form of り (ri)), since the fusion of /iki/ and /ari/ into /ikeri/ has the same form as the realis would suffixed with り (ri). However, the forms are not actually the same; see the etymology notes at り (ri) for further explanation.

Since ある (aru) is the attributive form of あり (ari), 生ける overall is a 連体詞(れんたいし) (rentaishi, “adnominal”).

Adnominal

生(い)ける • (ikeru)

having life, living
生(い)きとし生(い)けるもの (iki to shi ikeru mono, “all living creatures”)

生(い)ける屍(しかばね) (ikeru shikabane, “living corpse”)
- 2012, 幽閉サテライト (Yūhei Satellite), “花鳥風月 [Kachōfūgetsu]”, in かませ虎 (lyrics), Iceon (music), 華鳥風月 [Kachōfūgetsu], performed by senya:
  
  生(い)けるものすべて内側(うちがわ)に持(も)つ　華鳥風月(かちょうふうげつ)
  測(はか)れないから意味(いみ)がある
  ikeru mono subete uchigawa ni motsu kachōfūgetsu
  hakarenai kara imi ga aru
  All living things hold the beauties of nature within them;
  only because they can't be reckoned with do they have meaning.

Related terms

生(い)きる (ikiru)
生(い)かす (ikasu)
生(い)く (iku)