びっくり

Japanese

Alternative spellings
吃驚 (rare) 喫驚 (rare)

Etymology

Derivation from the びく (biku) root found in other terms such as びくっと (bikutto, “startledly”), びくつく (bikutsuku, “to shiver, as from fright; to startle; to become nervous”). The underlying meaning of the root appears to be twitch or start (noun).^[1]

This is one of many adverbs formed by the addition of the suffix り (ri) to the root, and then gemination of the middle consonant. The suffix may derive from the auxiliary verb り (ri), itself from classical verb あり (ari, “is, are”).

*biku → bikuri → bikkuri

The kanji spellings for this term are very rare. The kana spellings びっくり or ビックリ are much more common.

Pronunciation

(Tokyo) びっくり [bìkkúꜜrì] (Nakadaka – [3])^[2]
IPA^(key): [bʲik̚kɯ̟ɾʲi]

Adverb

びっくり or ビックリ • (bikkuri)

startledly, surprisedly, astonishedly

Related terms

びくびく (bikubiku)
びくっと (bikutto)
びくつく (bikutsuku)
びくしゃく (bikushaku)
びくとも (bikutomo)

Verb

びっくりする or ビックリする • (bikkuri suru) suru (stem びっくりし (bikkuri shi), past びっくりした (bikkuri shita))

to be surprised, to be startled, to be frightened, to be astonished
びっくりした？
Bikkuri shita?
Were you surprised?

あー、びっくりした。
Ā, bikkuri shita.
Oh man, that surprised me.

Conjugation

Conjugation of "びっくりする" (See Appendix:Japanese verbs.)

Katsuyōkei ("stem forms")
Mizenkei ("imperfective")	びっくりし	bikkuri shi
Ren’yōkei ("continuative")	びっくりし	bikkuri shi
Shūshikei ("terminal")	びっくりする	bikkuri suru
Rentaikei ("attributive")	びっくりする	bikkuri suru
Kateikei ("hypothetical")	びっくりすれ	bikkuri sure
Meireikei ("imperative")	びっくりせよ¹ びっくりしろ²	bikkuri seyo¹ bikkuri shiro²
Key constructions
Passive	びっくりされる	bikkuri sareru
Causative	びっくりさせるびっくりさす	bikkuri saseru bikkuri sasu
Potential	びっくりできる	bikkuri dekiru
Volitional	びっくりしよう	bikkuri shiyō
Negative	びっくりしない	bikkuri shinai
Negative continuative	びっくりせず	bikkuri sezu
Formal	びっくりします	bikkuri shimasu
Perfective	びっくりした	bikkuri shita
Conjunctive	びっくりして	bikkuri shite
Hypothetical conditional	びっくりすれば	bikkuri sureba
¹ Written imperative ² Spoken imperative

References

^ Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

[KDJ-1] Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN

[DJR-2] Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

[1]

[2]