兎に角

Japanese
Kanji in this term
兎 角
と
Jinmeiyō
(ateji)		 かく
Grade: 2
(ateji)
on’yomi

Etymology

Shift from とにかくに (to ni kaku ni), itself composed of と (to, “in that way”) +‎ に (ni, particle) +‎ 斯く (kaku, “in this way”) +‎ に (ni, particle).[1][2]

The kanji spelling literally means “horns on a rabbit”, but this is merely ateji (当て字). It is perhaps an allusion to Literary Chinese 龜毛兔角 (guīmáotùjiǎo, “an impossibility”, literally “hair on a turtle, horns on a rabbit”).

Pronunciation
  • (Tokyo) と​にかく [tóꜜnìkàkù] (Atamadaka – [1])[2][3]
  • IPA(key): [to̞ɲ̟ika̠kɯ̟ᵝ]

Adverb

兎(と)に角(かく) • (tonikaku) 

  1. anyway, anyhow, in any case, be that as it may

Usage notes

This term is more commonly written in hiragana, as とにかく.

Synonyms

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
  3. NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK Publishing, →ISBN
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