くちる

Japanese

Alternative spelling
朽ちる

Etymology

From earlier upper bigrade verb くつ (kutsu).

Development

Natural progression from Old and Classical Japanese 上二段活用 (kami nidan katsuyō, “upper bigrade conjugation”) verbs ending in -u to modern Japanese 上一段活用 (kami ichidan katsuyō, “upper monograde conjugation”) verbs ending in -iru. For the Old / Classical form, see the くつ entry.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) くちる [kùchíꜜrù] (Nakadaka – [2])
• IPA^(key): [kɯ̟t͡ɕiɾɯ̟]

Verb

Japanese verb pair
active	くちる
mediopassive	くたす

くちる • (kuchiru) intransitive ichidan (stem くち (kuchi), past くちた (kuchita))

1. to rot, decay
2. (figurative) to die

Conjugation

Conjugation of "くちる" (See Appendix:Japanese verbs.)

Katsuyōkei ("stem forms")
Mizenkei ("imperfective")	くち	kuchi
Ren’yōkei ("continuative")	くち	kuchi
Shūshikei ("terminal")	くちる	kuchiru
Rentaikei ("attributive")	くちる	kuchiru
Kateikei ("hypothetical")	くちれ	kuchire
Meireikei ("imperative")	くちよ¹ くちろ²	kuchiyo¹ kuchiro²
Key constructions
Passive	くちられる	kuchirareru
Causative	くちさせる くちさす	kuchisaseru kuchisasu
Potential	くちられる くちれる³	kuchirareru kuchireru³
Volitional	くちよう	kuchiyō
Negative	くちない くちぬ くちん	kuchinai kuchinu kuchin
Negative continuative	くちず	kuchizu
Formal	くちます	kuchimasu
Perfective	くちた	kuchita
Conjunctive	くちて	kuchite
Hypothetical conditional	くちれば	kuchireba
¹ Written imperative ² Spoken imperative ³ Colloquial potential

Synonyms

• (rot): 腐(くさ)る (kusaru)

Derived terms

• 蛇(くちなわ) (kuchinawa)

Related terms

• 朽(く)たす (kutasu)