誓い

誓い

Japanese

Kanji in this term
誓
ちか Grade: S
kun’yomi

Etymology

連(れん)用(よう)形(けい) (ren'yōkei, “stem or continuative form”) of the verb 誓(ちか)う (chikau, “to swear, vow”).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) ちかい [chìkáí] (Heiban – [0])[1][2]
• (Tokyo) ちか​い [chìkáꜜì] (Nakadaka – [2])[2]
• IPA^(key): [t͡ɕi̥ka̠i]

Noun

誓(ちか)い • (chikai) ^{←ちかひ (tikafi)?}

1. an oath, pledge
   • c. 1005, Shūi Wakashū (book 14, poem 870; also Hyakunin Isshu, poem 38)

     忘(わす)らるる身(み)をば思(おも)はず誓(ちか)ひてし人(ひと)のいのちの惜(を)しくもあるかな

     wasuraruru mi o ba omowazu chikaite shi hito no inochi no oshiku mo aru kana

     It does not matter that I am now forgotten, but making an oath is the most precious moment in the whole life of a man.[3]

2. (Shinto, Buddhism) vow that the Buddha pledged to save sentient beings (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?)

References

1. 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
2. 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, →ISBN
3. Fujiwara no Sadaie; Tom Galt (2014) The Little Treasury of One Hundred People, One Poem Each (Lockert Library of Poetry in Translation), Princeton University Press, →ISBN