萌える
Japanese
| Kanji in this term |
|---|
| 萌 |
| も Jinmeiyō |
| kun’yomi |
Etymology
/moju/ → /mojeru/ → /moeru/
From classical 下二段活用 (shimo nidan katsuyō, “lower bigrade conjugation”) verb 萌ゆ (moyu).[1][2]
Derived from the 未然形 (mizenkei, “incomplete or irrealis form”) and 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “stem or continuative form”) 萌え (moe, likely parsed as moye) + る (-ru, verb suffix), thereby shifting to 下一段活用 (shimo ichidan katsuyō, “lower monograde conjugation”).
Possibly cognate with 燃える (moeru, “to burn, be passionate, light ablaze”). Compare 萌やす (moyasu, “to sprout”, transitive).
Pronunciation
- Kun’yomi
- (Tokyo) もえる [mòérú] (Heiban – [0])[2]
- IPA(key): [mo̞e̞ɾɯ̟ᵝ]
Verb
萌える (intransitive, ichidan conjugation, hiragana もえる, rōmaji moeru)
- to bud, sprout
- Synonyms: 兆す (kizasu), 芽ぐむ (megumu)
- to be aroused (especially sexually)
- (by extension, slang) to feel or experience moé
- 僕は、メイドさんや巫女さんには萌えない。
- Boku wa, meido-san ya miko-san ni wa moenai.
- I don't feel anything towards maids and shrine maids.
- いまいち萌えない娘
- Imaichi Moenai Musume
- Lacking-in-Moé-Girl
- (literally, “girl [towards which it is] kind of difficult to experience moé”)
- Synonym: ブヒる (buhiru)
- 僕は、メイドさんや巫女さんには萌えない。
Conjugation
Conjugation of "萌える" (See Appendix:Japanese verbs.)
| Stem forms | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Imperfective (未然形) | 萌え | もえ | moe | |
| Continuative (連用形) | 萌え | もえ | moe | |
| Terminal (終止形) | 萌える | もえる | moeru | |
| Attributive (連体形) | 萌える | もえる | moeru | |
| Hypothetical (仮定形) | 萌えれ | もえれ | moere | |
| Imperative (命令形) | 萌えよ¹ 萌えろ² | もえよ¹ もえろ² | moeyo¹ moero² | |
| Key constructions | ||||
| Passive | 萌えられる | もえられる | moerareru | |
| Causative | 萌えさせる 萌えさす | もえさせる もえさす | moesaseru moesasu | |
| Potential | 萌えられる 萌えれる³ | もえられる もえれる³ | moerareru moereru³ | |
| Volitional | 萌えよう | もえよう | moeyō | |
| Negative | 萌えない 萌えぬ 萌えん | もえない もえぬ もえん | moenai moenu moen | |
| Negative continuative | 萌えず | もえず | moezu | |
| Formal | 萌えます | もえます | moemasu | |
| Perfective | 萌えた | もえた | moeta | |
| Conjunctive | 萌えて | もえて | moete | |
| Hypothetical conditional | 萌えれば | もえれば | moereba | |
| ¹ Written imperative ² Spoken imperative ³ Colloquial potential | ||||
Derived terms
- 萌え (moe, “sprouting; moe”)
References
- 1995, 大辞泉 (Daijisen) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
- 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN