目覚まし

Japanese

Kanji in this term
目 覚
め
Grade: 1 		さ > ざ
Grade: 4
kun'yomi
Alternative spellings
目覺まし (kyūjitai)
目覚し

Etymology

Compound of 目 (me, “eye”) +‎ 覚まし (samashi, “clearing one's eyes or mind of sleep, confusion, etc.”, the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of verb 覚ます (samasu, “to clear one's mind or eyes”)).[1][2][3] The samashi changes to zamashi as an instance of rendaku (連濁).

Pronunciation

  • (Tokyo) めざまし [mèzáꜜmàshì] (Nakadaka – [2])[2]
  • IPA(key): [me̞za̠ma̠ɕi]

Noun

目(め)覚(ざ)まし or 目覚(めさ)まし • (mezamashi or mesamashi) 

  1. waking, waking up (either waking oneself, or waking someone else)
  2. a kind of sweet given to children waking up
    Synonyms: お目覚 (omeza), お目覚まし (omezamashi)
  3. short for 目覚まし時計 (“alarm clock”)

Usage notes

  • The mezamashi reading appears to be more common than mesamashi.[1][2][3]
  • Not to be confused with 目覚ましい (mezamashii, “wonderful, brilliant, striking”, adjective).

Derived terms

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 2.2 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (1995), 大辞泉 [Daijisen] (in Japanese), First edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, →ISBN
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