申し訳

Japanese
Kanji in this term
申 訳
もう(し)
Grade: 3		 わけ
Grade: 6
kun’yomi
Alternative spellings
申し譯 (kyūjitai)
申訳

Pronunciation
  • (Tokyo) もーしわけ [mòóshíwáké] (Heiban – [0])[1][2]
  • IPA(key): [mo̞ːɕiɰᵝa̠ke̞]

Noun

申(もう)し訳(わけ) • (mōshiwake) ←まうしわけ (mausiwake)?

  1. (honorific) apology, excuse
    まことに申(もう)し訳(わけ)ございません。
    Makoto ni mōshiwake gozaimasen.
    I am really sorry.
    (literally, “Sincerely I have no excuse.”)

Usage notes
  • 申し訳 is almost always used in expressing apology as in "申し訳ない". The level of humbleness increases as "ない" morphing into more polite form such as "ありません", "ございません" or "なく存じます", as well as the adverb preceding 申し訳, e.g. "ほんとに", "まことに", "非常に" or "大変", etc.
    • Another apologetic expression with similar humbleness to 申し訳ない is "お詫(わ)び申(もう)し上(あ)げます (owabi mōshiagemasu)".
  • When stating or blaming someone for using an excuse for mistake or wrongdoing, 言い訳 is always used instead.

Synonyms

References
  1. Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  2. 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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