有り難し

Japanese

Kanji in this term
有 難
あ
Grade: 3
かた > がた
Grade: 6
kun’yomi
Alternative spelling
有り難し (kyūjitai)

Etymology

ari + katashi > arigatashi. Compound of 有り (ari, “is, are”, in adverbial form) +‎ 難し (katashi, “difficult”). The katashi changes to gatashi as an instance of rendaku (連濁).. The original meaning was "difficult to be".

Adjective

有(あ)り難(がた)し • (arigatashi) †-ku

  1. difficult to be
  2. rare
  3. special; worthy of being thankful for

Usage notes

This term is often spelled in hiragana.

See also

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