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手前

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Japanese

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Etymology 1

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Kanji in this term
手 前
て
Grade: 1 		まえ
Grade: 2
kun'yomi

Compound of Old Japanese elements 手 (te, “hand”) +‎ 前 (mae, “front”), originally meaning “that which is just in front of one's hand”.[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

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Noun

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手(て)前(まえ) • (temae) ←てまへ (temafe)?

  1. position that is just in front or before; in the nearer position
    あの店(みせ)は交(こう)差(さ)点(てん)の手(て)前(まえ)にある。
    Ano mise wa kōsaten no temae ni aru.
    That store is just in front of the intersection.

Pronoun

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手(て)前(まえ) • (temae) ←てまへ (temafe)?

  1. (dated, humble, men's speech) I, me (who stands before you)
  2. (rare, informal, sometimes derogatory) you
Antonyms
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Etymology 2

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Kanji in this term
手 前
て
Grade: 1 		まえ > めえ
Grade: 2
kun'yomi

Corruption of temae. The vowel shift emphasizes the confrontational sense of the term.[2][3] This flattening of diphthongs to monophthongs is characteristic of Tokyo's Shitamachi dialect. Compare おめえ (omē, from お前 (omae)), ねえ (nē, from ない), やべえ (yabē, from やばい (yabai)).

Alternative forms

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Pronunciation

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Pronoun

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手(て)前(めえ) • (temē) 

  1. (vulgar, derogatory, men's speech) you, you son of a bitch, you bastard
    手(て)前(めえ)、何(なに)しやがったんだ！
    Temē, nani shiyagatta n da!
    You bastard, what did you do!?
Usage notes
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Usually spelled in hiragana as てめえ.

Synonyms
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References

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  1. ^ Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Kindaichi, Kyōsuke et al., editors (1997), 新明解国語辞典 [Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten] (in Japanese), Fifth edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
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