何れ

Japanese

Etymology 1
Kanji in this term
何
ど
Grade: 2
Irregular

/idure/ → /idore/ → /dore/

Shift from izure (see below).[1]

Compare development of 何処 (izuko → doko, “where”).

Pronunciation

Pronoun

何れ (hiragana どれ, rōmaji dore)

  1. indeterminate demonstrative pronoun:
    1. which... (of three or more choices)
    2. which way...; where...
      Synonym: どこ (doko)
  2. indeterminate personal pronoun:
    1. which... (three or more persons)
    2. (by) who...
      Synonym: 誰 (dare)
Usage notes
Derived terms
Derived terms
  • 何 (ど)れ何 (ど)れ (doredore, reduplication)
  • 何 (ど)れか (dore ka)
  • 何 (ど)れ丈 (だけ) (doredake)
  • 何 (ど)れ程 (ほど) (dore hodo)
  • 何 (ど)れも (dore mo)
See also
Japanese demonstratives
ko-
“this”
(close to speaker)		 so-
“that”
(close to listener)		 a-
“that over there”
(far from both)		 do-
“which”
(indeterminate, question)
Object これ (kore) それ (sore) あれ (are) どれ (dore)
これら (korera) それら (sorera) あれら (arera) —
Determiner この (kono) その (sono) あの (ano) どの (dono)
これらの (korera no) それらの (sorera no) あれらの (arera no) —
Kind こんな (konna) そんな (sonna) あんな (anna) どんな (donna)
Place ここ (koko) そこ (soko) あそこ (asoko)* どこ (doko)
Direction こちら (kochira) そちら (sochira) あちら (achira) どちら (dochira)
こっち (kotchi) そっち (sotchi) あっち (atchi) どっち (dotchi)
Human こいつ (koitsu) そいつ (soitsu) あいつ (aitsu) どいつ (doitsu)
Manner こう (kō) そう (sō) ああ (ā)** どう (dō)
* irregular
** regular (long vowel)

Interjection

何れ (hiragana どれ, rōmaji dore)

  1. a filled pause in speech:
    1. well, ...
    2. let me see, ...; let's see, ...
Derived terms
  • 何 (ど)れ何 (ど)れ (doredore, reduplication)

Etymology 2
Kanji in this term
何
いず
Grade: 2
kun’yomi

/idure/ → /id͡zure/ → /izure/

Alternative forms
  • 孰れ

Pronunciation

Pronoun

何れ (hiragana いずれ, rōmaji izure, historical hiragana いづれ)

  1. (archaic) indeterminate demonstrative pronoun:
    1. which... (of three or more choices)
    2. when...
    3. which way...; where...

Adverb

何れ (hiragana いずれ, rōmaji izure, historical hiragana いづれ)

  1. someday; one day; before long
    何 (いず)れにしても（せよ）。
    Izure ni shite mo (seyo).
    In any event; at any rate.
  2. in the end, eventually
Derived terms
Derived terms
  • 何 (いず)れ劣 (おと)らぬ (izure otoranu)
  • 何 (いず)れか (izure ka)
  • 何 (いず)れにしても (izure ni shite mo)
  • 何 (いず)れにせよ (izure ni seyo)
  • 何 (いず)れともなく (izure to mo naku)
  • 何 (いず)れともなし (izure to mo nashi)
  • 何 (いず)れも (izure mo)
Proverbs
  • 何 (いず)れ菖蒲 (あやめ)か杜若 (かきつばた) (izure ayame ka kakitsubata)
  • 何 (いず)れを見 (み)ても山 (やま)家 (が)育 (そだ)ち (izure o mite mo yamaga sodachi)

See also

References
  1. 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  • 2002, Ineko Kondō; Fumi Takano; Mary E Althaus; et. al., Shogakukan Progressive Japanese-English Dictionary, Third Edition, Tokyo: Shōgakukan, →ISBN.
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.