めちゃくちゃ
Japanese
Alternative spellings |
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滅茶苦茶 目茶苦茶 |
Etymology
This etymology is hypothetical. Since that 無茶 (mucha) shifted to 滅茶 (mecha) by ateji (当て字), there may be an idea raised that a 滅茶 (mecha) ("ruined tea" or thus, "wrongly prepared tea") would be a 苦茶 (kucha) ("bitter tea"), which would also favor the sense of four-character idioms or 四字熟語 (yojijukugo).
Pronunciation
- (Tokyo) めちゃくちゃ [mèchák
úchá] (Heiban – [0])[1][2] - IPA(key): [me̞t͡ɕa̠kɯ̟̊ᵝt͡ɕa̠]
Adjective
めちゃくちゃ • (mechakucha) -na (adnominal めちゃくちゃな (mechakucha na), adverbial めちゃくちゃに (mechakucha ni))
- absurd, unreasonable, illogical
- incoherent, disorderly, messy
- 1818, Mary Shelley, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, Japanese translation by Giichi Shishido
- 僕は話をやめました。やっとのことでその人は、めちゃくちゃな語調で言いはじめました。
- Boku wa hanashi o yamemashita. Yatto no koto de sono hito wa, mechakucha na gochō de iihajimemashita.
- I paused; at length he spoke, in broken accents.
- 僕は話をやめました。やっとのことでその人は、めちゃくちゃな語調で言いはじめました。
- 1818, Mary Shelley, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, Japanese translation by Giichi Shishido
- reckless, excessive
- ruined, destroyed
Synonyms
- はちゃめちゃ (hachamecha)
Adverb
めちゃくちゃ • (mechakucha)
- very, really
- めちゃくちゃ恥ずかしい
- mechakucha hazukashii
- really embarrassed
- 1914-17, Franz Kafka, The Cares of a Family Man, Japanese translation by Yū Ōkubo
- もうちょっと言わせてもらうと、オドラデクはめちゃくちゃすばしっこいやつなので、どうにもつかまえられなくて、だからそういうことをどうとも言えんのである。
- Mō chotto iwasete morau to, Odoradeku wa mechakucha subashikkoi yatsu na no de, dō ni mo tsukamaerarenakute, da kara sō iu koto o dō to mo ien no de aru.
- In any case, closer scrutiny is impossible, since Odradek is extraordinarily nimble and can never be laid hold of.[3]
- もうちょっと言わせてもらうと、オドラデクはめちゃくちゃすばしっこいやつなので、どうにもつかまえられなくて、だからそういうことをどうとも言えんのである。
- めちゃくちゃ恥ずかしい
References
- 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
- 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, →ISBN
- Franz Kafka (2002), Helmuth Kiesel, editor, Kafka's The Metamorphosis and Other Writings (German Library Series, Volume 65), A&C Black, →ISBN, page 77