なるべく

Japanese
Alternative spellings
成る可く
なる可く

Etymology

From なる (naru, “to become”) + べく (beku, adverbial form of べし (beshi, “possible, able; should”)).[1][2]

First cited to the 1890s.[1]

Pronunciation

Adverb

なるべく • (naru beku) 

  1. [from 1890s] as... as possible
    なるべく早(はや)くおいでください。
    Naru beku hayaku oide kudasai.
    Please come as soon as possible/as soon as you can.
  2. [from 1890s] if possible
    なるべくなら明日(あした)までに欲(ほ)しいのですが。
    Naru beku nara ashita made ni hoshii no desu ga.
    I'd like to have it by tomorrow, if possible.

Synonyms

References
  1. “成る可く”, in 日本国語大辞典 (Nihon Kokugo Daijiten, “Nihon Kokugo Daijiten”)‎ (in Japanese), concise edition, Tōkyō: Shogakukan, 2000
  2. Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  3. 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
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.