滅多

Japanese

Kanji in this term
めつ > めっ
Grade: S

Grade: 2
on’yomi

Etymology

Cognate with[1][2] and change from[1] earlier めた (meta, thoughtless, rash, immoderate, excessive). Gemination is commonly used in Japanese for emphasis.

This root めた (meta) would appear to be related in some way to synonymous roots めちゃ (mecha), むちゃ (mucha), and むさ (musa).

The kanji are phonetic ateji (当て字).[1][2]

Pronunciation

Adjective

(めっ)() • (metta) -na (adnominal (めっ)() (metta na), adverbial (めっ)() (metta ni))

  1. thoughtless, inconsiderate, excessive
    滅多(めった)なことを()うな!
    Metta na koto o iu na!
    Don't say such thoughtless things! → Don't be talking stupid!
  2. (chiefly in the negative) frequent (compare the English construction not + too much)
    ここは滅多(めった)(ゆき)()りません。
    Koko wa metta ni yuki wa furimasen.
    It rarely snows here.

Inflection

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
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