辛うじて

Japanese
Kanji in this term
辛
かろ
Grade: S
kun’yomi

Etymology

Shift from 辛くして (karaku shite, literally, “doing with difficulty”),[1][2][3][4][5] from 辛く (karaku, 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “adverbial form”) of adjective 辛い (karai)) +‎ して (shite, -te conjunctive form of verb する (suru)).

/karaku/ → /karau/ → /karoː/

辛く (karaku) shifted to かろう (karō) in a process called ウ音便 (u-onbin). Compare ありがとう (arigatō) from ありがたく (arigataku) and おはよう (ohayō) from おはやく (o-hayaku).

Pronunciation

Adverb

辛(かろ)うじて • (karōjite) ←からうじて (karauzite)?

  1. barely, narrowly, by a narrow margin, just enough

References
  1. Shinmura, Izuru, editor (1998), 広辞苑 [Kōjien] (in Japanese), Fifth edition, Tōkyō: Iwanami Shoten, →ISBN
  2. Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  3. Matsumura, Akira (1995) 大辞泉 [Daijisen] (in Japanese), First edition, Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
  4. Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
  5. Kindaichi, Kyōsuke et al., editors (1997), 新明解国語辞典 [Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten] (in Japanese), Fifth edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  6. 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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