言わん方無し

Japanese
Kanji in this term
言 方 無
い
Grade: 2		 かた
Grade: 2		 な
Grade: 4
kun’yomi

Alternative forms
  • 言わむ方無し

Etymology

/ipan kata nasi/ → /iɸan kata nasi/ → /iwan kata nasi/. iwan is a contraction of iwamu, from the verb 言う (iu, “to say”) in 未然形 (“irrealis”) form (iwa) plus the subjective particle む (mu). Can be thus interpreted literally as “there is no seeming way of saying”.

Idiom

言(い)わん方(かた)無(な)し • (iwan kata nashi) ←いはんかたなし (ifankatanasi)?

  1. there are no words to describe it
    • 1008-1010: Murasaki Shikibu Nikki
      秋のけはひ入たつままに、土御門殿の有さま、いはむ方なくをかし。
      (please add an English translation of this usage example)
    • 1832-33: Shunshoku Umegoyomi (volume 1)
      [...]人品賎しからねども、薄命なる人なりけん、貧苦にせまる其うへに、此ほど病の床にふし、不自由いわん方もなき、容体もときの吉不詳[...]
      (please add an English translation of this usage example)

References
  • Hasegawa, Masaharu with Yūichirō Imanishi, Hiroshi Itō, Hiroshi Yoshioka (1989) Shin Nihon Koten Bungaku Taikei 24: Tosa Nikki, Kagerō Nikki, Murasaki Shikibu Nikki, Sarashina Nikki, Tōkyō: Iwanami Shoten, →ISBN
  • Nakamura, Yukihiko (1968) Nihon Koten Bungaku Taikei 64: Shunshoku Umegoyomi, Tōkyō: Iwanami Shoten, →ISBN
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