びっくり

Japanese

Alternative spellings
吃驚 (rare)
喫驚 (rare)

Etymology

Derivation from the びく (biku) root found in other terms such as びくっと (bikutto, startledly), びくつく (bikutsuku, to shiver, as from fright; to startle; to become nervous). The underlying meaning of the root appears to be twitch or start (noun).[1]

This is one of many adverbs formed by the addition of the suffix (ri) to the root, and then gemination of the middle consonant. The suffix may derive from the auxiliary verb (ri), itself from classical verb あり (ari, is, are).

*bikubikuribikkuri

The kanji spellings for this term are very rare. The kana spellings びっくり or ビックリ are much more common.

Pronunciation

  • (Tokyo) っく [bìkkúꜜrì] (Nakadaka – [3])[2]
  • IPA(key): [bʲik̚kɯ̟ᵝɾʲi]

Adverb

びっくり or ビックリ • (bikkuri) 

  1. startledly, surprisedly, astonishedly

Verb

びっくりする or ビックリする • (bikkuri suru) suru (stem びっくり (bikkuri suru shi), past びっくりした (bikkuri suru shita))

  1. to be surprised, to be startled, to be frightened, to be astonished
    びっくりした?
    Bikkuri shita?
    Were you surprised?
    あー、びっくりした。
    Ā, bikkuri shita.
    Oh man, that surprised me.

Conjugation

References

  1. Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典(新装版) [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
  2. Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
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