お前

Japanese

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
前
まえ
Grade: 2
kun’yomi
Alternative spelling
御前

From 御(お) (o, honorific prefix) + 前(まえ) (mae, “front”), literally "honourable presence in front of me". Originally a polite pronoun applied to highly respected persons such as emperors or gods.[1][2]

First attested in the early 900s.[1]

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Pronoun

お前(まえ) • (omae) ←おまへ (omafe)?

  1. [from early 900s] (informal, men's speech; or dialect) you
    • 1915, Akutagawa Ryūnosuke, 羅生門 [Rashōmon]:
      己(おれ)は檢(け)非(び)違(ゐ)使(し)の廳(ちやう)の役(やく)人(にん)などではない。今(いま)し方(がた)この門(もん)の下(した)を通(とほ)りかゝつた旅(たび)の者(もの)だ。だからお前(まえ)に繩(なわ)をかけて、どうしようと云(い)ふやうな事(こと)はない。
      Ore wa kebiishi no chō no yakunin nado de wa nai. Imashigata kono mon no shita o tōrikakatta tabi no mono da. Dakara omae ni nawa o kakete, dō shiyō to iu yō na koto wa nai.
      I am not an official of law enforcement, but simply a traveller who's happened to come across this gate a few moments ago. I'm not here to bind you in ropes or any nonsense of the sort.
Usage notes
  • Slightly condescending if used by a higher status peer to refer to a lower status peer, very informal between close equal-status peers; (very) impolite in other situations.
  • In many Japanese dialects, it is rather the standard 2nd-person pronoun, equivalent in usage to standard Japanese あなた (anata).
Derived terms

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
前
めえ
Grade: 2
irregular

/omae/ → /omeː/

Corruption of お前(まえ) (omae). First attested in 1777.[1]

Pronunciation

Pronoun

お前(めえ) or お前(め) • (omē or ome) 

  1. [from 1777] (dialectal, Edo, Tōhoku) you (standard second-person pronoun)

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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