食べる

Japanese

Kanji in this term
食
た Grade: 2
kun'yomi

Etymology

From earlier Old Japanese form 食ぶ (tabu, “to (humbly) receive or get”, from a superior), a verb with the 下二段 (shimo nidan) or lower bigrade conjugation pattern. This was the humble form of 賜ぶ, 給ぶ (tabu, “to (deign to) give”, to an inferior), a verb with the full 四段 (yodan) or quadrigrade conjugation pattern.

Development

Natural progression from Old and Classical Japanese 下二段活用 (shimo nidan katsuyō, “lower bigrade conjugation”) verbs ending in -u to modern Japanese 下一段活用 (shimo ichidan katsuyō, “lower monograde conjugation”) verbs ending in -eru.

Most likely cognate with 給う (tamau, “to give”, as a superior gives a thing to, or does something for, an inferior).

Compare the historical development of meaning from “to humbly receive” → “to eat”, with the modern use of the humble verb 頂く (itadaku, “to receive”) just before eating, in a sense of “I humbly receive this food.”

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) たべる [tàbéꜜrù] (Nakadaka – [2])
• IPA^(key): [ta̠be̞ɾɯ̟]

• Tokyo pitch accent of conjugated forms of 「食べる」

Source: Online Japanese Accent Dictionary
Stem forms
Terminal (終止形) Attributive (連体形)	食べる	たべる	[tàbéꜜrù]
Imperative (命令形)	食べろ	たべろ	[tàbéꜜrò]
Key constructions
Passive	食べられる	たべられる	[tàbéráréꜜrù]
Causative	食べさせる	たべさせる	[tàbésáséꜜrù]
Potential	食べられる	たべられる	[tàbéráréꜜrù]
Volitional	食べよう	たべよー	[tàbéyóꜜò]
Negative	食べない	たべない	[tàbéꜜnàì]
Negative perfective	食べなかった	たべなかった	[tàbéꜜnàkàttà]
Formal	食べます	たべます	[tàbémáꜜsù]
Perfective	食べた	たべた	[táꜜbètà]
Conjunctive	食べて	たべて	[táꜜbètè]
Hypothetical conditional	食べれば	たべれば	[tàbéꜜrèbà]

Verb

食(た)べる • (taberu) transitive ichidan (stem 食(た)べ (tabe), past 食(た)べた (tabeta))

1. to eat

   ご飯(はん)を食(た)べる

   go-han o taberu

   to eat a meal

   箸(はし)で食(た)べる

   hashi de taberu

   to eat with chopsticks

   今日(きょう)は、寿(す)司(し)を食(た)べに銀(ぎん)座(ざ)に行(い)きます。

   Kyō wa, sushi o tabe ni Ginza ni ikimasu.

   I'll go to Ginza today to eat sushi.

   食(た)べていくために

   tabeteiku tame ni

   in order to make a living (lit. in order to keep eating)

2. (archaic, humble) to eat or drink
   • 1603, Vocabvlario da Lingoa de Iapam (Nippo Jisho) [Vocabulary of the Language of Japan] (in Portuguese), Nagasaki, page 594:

     Tabe, uru, eta. タベ, ブル, ベタ (食べ, ぶる, べた) 食う, または, 飲む.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Conjugation

Conjugation of "食べる" (See Appendix:Japanese verbs.)

Katsuyōkei ("stem forms")
Mizenkei ("imperfective")	食べ	たべ	tabe
Ren’yōkei ("continuative")	食べ	たべ	tabe
Shūshikei ("terminal")	食べる	たべる	taberu
Rentaikei ("attributive")	食べる	たべる	taberu
Kateikei ("hypothetical")	食べれ	たべれ	tabere
Meireikei ("imperative")	食べよ¹ 食べろ²	たべよ¹ たべろ²	tabeyo¹ tabero²
Key constructions
Passive	食べられる	たべられる	taberareru
Causative	食べさせる 食べさす	たべさせる たべさす	tabesaseru tabesasu
Potential	食べられる 食べれる³	たべられる たべれる³	taberareru tabereru³
Volitional	食べよう	たべよう	tabeyō
Negative	食べない 食べぬ 食べん	たべない たべぬ たべん	tabenai tabenu taben
Negative continuative	食べず	たべず	tabezu
Formal	食べます	たべます	tabemasu
Perfective	食べた	たべた	tabeta
Conjunctive	食べて	たべて	tabete
Hypothetical conditional	食べれば	たべれば	tabereba
¹ Written imperative ² Spoken imperative ³ Colloquial potential

Synonyms

Synonyms

• (honorific) 召(め)し上(あ)がる (meshiagaru)
• (male, vulgar) 食(く)う (kuu)
• (of animals) 食(は)む (hamu)
• (obsolete) まぼる (maboru)
• (Tsugaru) まぐらる (maguraru)

References

• Doi, Tadao (1603–1604) Hōyaku Nippo Jisho (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Iwanami Shoten, published 1980, →ISBN.