目覚まし

Japanese

Kanji in this term
目	覚
め Grade: 1	さ > ざ Grade: 4
kun'yomi

Alternative spellings
目覺まし (kyūjitai) 目覚し

Etymology

Compound of 目 (me, “eye”) +‎ 覚まし (samashi, “clearing one's eyes or mind of sleep, confusion, etc.”, the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of verb 覚ます (samasu, “to clear one's mind or eyes”)).^[1]^[2]^[3] The samashi changes to zamashi as an instance of rendaku (連濁).

Pronunciation

(Tokyo) めざまし [mèzáꜜmàshì] (Nakadaka – [2])^[2]
IPA^(key): [me̞za̠ma̠ɕi]

Noun

目(め)覚(ざ)まし or 目覚(めさ)まし • (mezamashi or mesamashi)

waking, waking up (either waking oneself, or waking someone else)
a kind of sweet given to children waking up
Synonyms: お目覚 (omeza), お目覚まし (omezamashi)
Short for 目覚まし時計 (“alarm clock”).

Usage notes

The mezamashi reading appears to be more common than mesamashi.^[1]^[2]^[3]
Not to be confused with 目覚ましい (mezamashii, “wonderful, brilliant, striking”, adjective).

Derived terms

目(め)覚(ざ)まし時(ど)計(けい) (mezamashidokei)

References

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1 Matsumura, Akira (1995) 大辞泉 [Daijisen] (in Japanese), First edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, →ISBN

[KDJ-1] 1.0 ^1.1 Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN

[DJR-2] 2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

[DJS-3] 3.0 ^3.1 Matsumura, Akira (1995) 大辞泉 [Daijisen] (in Japanese), First edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, →ISBN

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