いらっしゃいませ

Japanese

Etymology

いらっしゃい (irasshai, the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, continuative) of the honorific verb いらっしゃる irassharu) +‎ ませ (mase, the 命令形 (meireikei, imperative) of formal suffix masu).

Compare Korean 어서 오세요 (eoseo oseyo, literally quickly come (honorific)).

Pronunciation

  • (Tokyo) らっしゃいま [ìrássháímáꜜsè] (Nakadaka – [6])[1]
  • IPA(key): [iɾa̠ɕːa̠ima̠se̞]

Interjection

いらっしゃいませ • (irasshaimase

  1. welcome
  2. please come on in

Usage notes

  • Used by a store person to greet a customer, similarly to "hello, may I help you?"

See also

References

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