涙

涙

See also: 淚

涙 U+6D99, 涙 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-6D99 ← 涘 [U+6D98] CJK Unified Ideographs 涚 → [U+6D9A]

Translingual

Traditional	淚
Shinjitai	涙
Simplified	泪

Han character

涙 (Kangxi radical 85, 水+7, 10 strokes, cangjie input 水戈尸大 (EISK) or 水一尸大 (EMSK), four-corner 3318₄, composition ⿰氵戻)

Related characters

• 淚 (Traditional Chinese and kyūjitai form)

References

• KangXi: not present, would follow page 627, character 31
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 17573
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): not present, would follow volume 3, page 1634, character 6
• Unihan data for U+6D99

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Chinese

For pronunciation and definitions of 涙 – see 淚 (“tear; teardrop; to weep; to cry”). (This character, 涙, is a variant form of 淚.)

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Japanese

Shinjitai	涙
Kyūjitai	淚

Kanji

涙

(common “Jōyō” kanji, shinjitai kanji, kyūjitai form 淚)

1. tears

Readings

• Go-on: るい (rui, Jōyō)^{←るい (rui, historical)←るゐ (ruwi, ancient)}
• Kan-on: るい (rui, Jōyō)^{←るい (rui, historical)←るゐ (ruwi, ancient)}
• Tō-on: れい (rei)
• On: らい (rai)
• Kun: なみだ (namida, 涙, Jōyō)

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
涙
なみだ Grade: S
kun’yomi

Alternative spelling
淚 (kyūjitai)

From Old Japanese. Ultimately from Proto-Japonic *namita.

Attested in the Nihon Shoki with the man'yōgana spelling 那瀰多 (​namita). The Kojiki and Man'yōshū have 那美多 (​namita),[1] and the Man'yōshū also has later instances where the 多 (ta) was replaced with 太 (da), forming 奈美太 (​namida),[2] indicating a phonetic change over time from namita to namida.

Ultimate derivation unknown. There are interesting phonetic and semantic similarities with Thai น้ำตา (nám-dtaa, “tear”, literally “water + eye”), overlapping semantically with Korean 눈물 (nunmul, “tear”, literally “eye + water”), perhaps pointing to an ancient prehistoric borrowing. However, such similarities may also be purely accidental.

Alternative forms

• 泪, 涕

Pronunciation

• Kun’yomi
• (Tokyo) な​みだ [náꜜmìdà] (Atamadaka – [1])[3]
• IPA^(key): [na̠mʲida̠]

Noun

涙(なみだ) • (namida) 

1. tear, teardrop

Verb

涙(なみだ)する • (namida suru) suru (stem 涙(なみだ)し (namida shi), past 涙(なみだ)した (namida shita))

1. to cry, to weep

Conjugation

Conjugation of "涙する" (See Appendix:Japanese verbs.)

Stem forms
Imperfective (未然形)	涙し	なみだし	namida shi
Continuative (連用形)	涙し	なみだし	namida shi
Terminal (終止形)	涙する	なみだする	namida suru
Attributive (連体形)	涙する	なみだする	namida suru
Hypothetical (仮定形)	涙すれ	なみだすれ	namida sure
Imperative (命令形)	涙せよ¹ 涙しろ²	なみだせよ¹ なみだしろ²	namida seyo¹ namida shiro²
Key constructions
Passive	涙される	なみだされる	namida sareru
Causative	涙させる 涙さす	なみださせる なみださす	namida saseru namida sasu
Potential	涙できる	なみだできる	namida dekiru
Volitional	涙しよう	なみだしよう	namida shiyō
Negative	涙しない	なみだしない	namida shinai
Negative continuative	涙せず	なみだせず	namida sezu
Formal	涙します	なみだします	namida shimasu
Perfective	涙した	なみだした	namida shita
Conjunctive	涙して	なみだして	namida shite
Hypothetical conditional	涙すれば	なみだすれば	namida sureba
¹ Written imperative ² Spoken imperative

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
涙
なんだ Grade: S
kun’yomi

Alternative spelling
淚 (kyūjitai)

/namida/ → /nanda/

Alteration of namida above.[4][3][5]

Pronunciation

• Kun’yomi
• (Tokyo) な​んだ [náꜜǹdà] (Atamadaka – [1])[3]
• IPA^(key): [nã̠nda̠]

Noun

涙(なんだ) • (nanda) ^{←なむだ (namuda)?}

1. tear, teardrop

Etymology 3

Kanji in this term
涙
なだ Grade: S
kun’yomi

Alternative spelling
淚 (kyūjitai)

Alteration of namida or nanda above. Used during the Edo period in the rough informal speech used by the staff and servants of samurai households, and others of lower social rank.[4][3][5]

Pronunciation

• Kun’yomi
• IPA^(key): [na̠da̠]

Noun

涙(なだ) • (nada) 

1. (archaic, possibly obsolete) tear, teardrop

See also

• 泣(な)く (naku): "to cry"

References

1. c. 759, Man'yōshū (book 5, poem 798), text here
2. c. 759, Man'yōshū (book 20, poem 4398), text here
3. 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
4. 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
5. 1995, 大辞泉 (Daijisen) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN