手前

Japanese

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term

Grade: 1
まえ
Grade: 2
kun’yomi

Compound of Old Japanese elements (te, hand) + (mae, front), originally meaning “that which is just in front of one's hand”.[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

Noun

()(まえ) • (temae) てまへ (temafe)?

  1. position that is just in front or before; in the nearer position
    あの(みせ)(こう)()(てん)()(まえ)にある。
    Ano mise wa kōsaten no temae ni aru.
    That store is just in front of the intersection.

Pronoun

()(まえ) • (temae) てまへ (temafe)?

  1. (dated, humble, men's speech) I, me (who stands before you)
  2. (rare, informal, sometimes derogatory) you
Antonyms

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term

Grade: 1
まえ > めえ
Grade: 2
kun’yomi

Corruption of temae. The vowel shift emphasizes the confrontational sense of the term.[2][3] This flattening of diphthongs to monophthongs is characteristic of Tokyo's Shitamachi dialect. Compare おめえ (omē, from お前 (omae)), ねえ (, from ない), やべえ (yabē, from やばい (yabai)).

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Pronoun

()(めえ) • (temē) 

  1. (vulgar, derogatory, men's speech) you, you son of a bitch, you bastard
    ()(めえ)(なに)しやがった
    Temē, nani shiyagatta n da!
    You bastard, what did you do!?
Usage notes

Usually spelled in hiragana as てめえ.

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. Kindaichi, Kyōsuke et al., editors (1997), 新明解国語辞典 [Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten] (in Japanese), Fifth edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  • 2000, Jonathan Bunt, Gillian Hall, The Oxford Starter Japanese Dictionary, First Edition, New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN
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