#ccws

if you read a lot of manga or novels, you might see the word 脅す somewhat frequently. or, you might see the word 脅かす—or even the word 脅かす! (yes, those last two are different.) but in case you aren't familiar with them, here's each one in kana:

脅す（おどす）

脅かす（おどかす）

脅かす（おびやかす）

so what's up with these? i finally got fed up and decided to look it up. let's start with the kanji!

脅（キョウ・おど、おびや） = threaten, coerce

脅迫（きょうはく） = coercion, blackmail

脅威（きょうい） = threat, menace

so, we can see our three verbs above are going to share the basic meaning of "to threaten/frighten". but what's the use of having three? let's compare.

脅す（おどす） = to threaten, frighten (into doing), 恐れさせる, 脅迫する

this verb's definition is very straightforward; it means what it says on the tin. we might consider 脅す the most basic of these three verbs. here are some examples:

脅してお金をとる = to threaten someone for money

「金を渡せ」と脅してきた。 = he threatened me, saying, "hand over your cash."

pretty simple. this is the kind of word that might be used by a newscaster or prescribed by a textbook, although it's not hyper-formal or anything.

next, we'll look at the verb with the same kun'yomi as 脅す:

脅かす（おどかす） = to startle, scare, びっくりさせる, 驚かす; to threaten, intimidate, 脅す

it looks like the definition of 脅す is encompassed by 脅(おど)かす! furthermore, 脅(おど)かす has its own particular usage meaning "to startle", which 脅す is not generally used for. that also makes 脅(おど)かす a more casual word than 脅す.

お化けが私を脅(おど)かした。 = a ghost spooked me.

びっくりした！脅(おど)かさないでよ。 = you scared me! don't startle me like that.

脅(おど)かしてお金をとる = to threaten someone for money (colloquial)

so, while 脅(おど)かす can do the job of 脅す in casual conversation, it also comes with its own nuance.

lastly, 脅(おびや)かす, whose kun'yomi is different:

脅かす（おびやかす） = to threaten (e.g., peace), jeopardize, endanger, 危うくする; to intimidate, frighten, 怖がらせて従わせる

this verb also has two definitions. one definition is similar to 脅(おど)かす and 脅す, meaning "to frighten into obeisance". apparently, under this definition, 脅(おびや)かす applies to actually frightening/dangerous circumstances, while 脅(おど)かす can also apply to circumstances that are scary but probably harmless.

刃物で脅(おびや)かす = to threaten with a knife (actually dangerous)

びっくりさせて脅(おど)かす = to take someone by surprise (incidentally scary, e.g., rounding the corner too fast, uncovering a weird bug, etc.)

additionally, 脅(おびや)かす has a metaphorical usage, as in "to threaten the peace" or some other intangible state of being.

ウイルスの広がりが安全を脅(おびや)かす。 = the spread of the virus threatens safety.

人の地位を脅(おびや)かす = to threaten someone's social standing

this is definitely the definition that sets it apart from 脅す and 脅(おど)かす! if you see something stable being put in peril, that's probably 脅(おびや)かす.

to sum up: 脅す is the most basic of these three verbs, while 脅(おびや)かす is the most metaphorical. meanwhile, 脅(おど)かす can take a casual or even somewhat humorous tone (kind of like "menace" in english). and of course, at the end of the day, all three more or less mean to threaten/make afraid/恐れさせる.

hopefully i didn't frighten you too much with another extremely specific vocab post! みんなを脅かすつもりじゃなかったもんね ;) as always, feel free to send me any questions or comments, and check out my sources below the cut if you like. お疲れ and see you next time!!

nouns:

無実（むじつ） = innocence, guiltlessness

無視（むし） = ignoring

無料（むりょう） = free of charge, gratis

無人島（むじんとう） = desert island

無言（むごん） = silence (i.e., not speaking)

無知（むち） = ignorance

無事（ぶじ） = safety, security

無責任（むせきにん） = irresponsibility

無力（むりょく） = powerlessness, ineffectiveness

無名（むめい） = nameless, anonymous

adjectives:

無敵（むてき）な = invincible, unbeatable; peerless, unrivaled

無邪気（むじゃき）な = innocent, simple-minded

無口（むくち）な = taciturn, reticent

無理（むり）な = impossible, unreasonable; excessive

無垢 （むく）な = innocent, pure

無駄（むだ）な = useless, wasteful

無害（むがい）な = harmless

無関心（むかんしん）な = apathetic, indifferent

無情（むじょう）な = heartless, coldhearted

無限（むげん）な = infinite, limitless

無数（むすう）な = innumerable, countless

無意識（むいしき）な = involuntary, unintentional, spontaneous

無意味（むいみ）な = nonsense, meaningless

adverbs and expressions:

むやみ（無闇）に = recklessly, at random

無理（むり）やり = by force, against one's will

as always, it's one teeny radical that ruins everything!!

札（ふだ・サツ） = tag; paper money

お札（おふだ） = paper amulet

お札（おさつ） = bank note

礼（レイ） = salute, bow; thanks

お礼（おれい） = thanks

礼（れい） = bow

礼儀（れいぎ） = manners, etiquette

these two phrases are nothing alike, but i get them confused from their structure:

念の為（ねんのため） = just to be sure; just in case, for peace of mind

念の為もう一度言っておきます。 = let me remind you of it again.

念の為レントゲンを撮りました。 = we took an x-ray just in case.

案の定（あんのじょう） = just as i thought, as suspected/feared (of negative outcomes)

chances are, you know or have seen the word あまり (and its casual variants あんまり and あんま) out and about. textbooks usually teach this word as follows:

あまり (adv.) = not much, not very (with neg. verb) おすしがあまり好きじゃない。 = i don't like sushi that much.

if you've been studying japanese for a little bit, you should be familiar with this あまり. it's very useful and comes up a lot!

but....have you ever seen an あまり out in the wild that didn't seem to fit this definition at all?? for example, an あまり used without any negative verb, or an あまり that was for some reason followed by に or の...? that pesky, lesser-known (or at least lesser-taught) あまり is the subject of today's 紛らわしい言葉コーナー!! 早速ですが、これから説明していきます！

what does あまり actually mean?

i think lots of japanese learners only learn the meaning of あまり in context (i.e., as "not much" in negative sentences). while this is fine per se, for our purposes today it might be helpful to dig a little deeper into the specifics of the word!

let's see a translated definition first:

余り（あまり） (noun) = remainder, surplus, leftovers (of food)

ok, this....definitely isn't the あまり we're talking about today (lol). for one thing, it's a noun, and we're interested in adverbs. second of all, we probably aren't that concerned with people's leftovers!

but still, this noun can give us an interesting clue about the adverb in question. more helpful still—the kanji attached to it!

余（あま・ヨ） = remainder, surplus; too much

uh-oh, i've highlighted something, you know what that means—please pay attention to the "too much" meaning of 余! just to be thorough, let's look at another common word that uses this kanji:

余る（あまる） (verb) = to be left over; to be in excess, too many 先生、プリントが余っている！ = sensei, there's extra handouts!

it looks like we're steadily approaching an understanding of 余 (and words that use it) focused on excess, not on remainders or leftovers. i think we can unify our two kinds of あまり under this idea: a remainder is too much just like an excess is too much. huh...convenient!

are you picking up what i'm putting down...? if so, i think we're ready to move on to the next section!

negative あまり = not too much!

now, let's revisit the negative あまり we know and love! here's the example from before:

おすしがあまり好きじゃない。 = i don't like sushi that much.

knowing what we now know about あまり（余り）, we can try translating this sentence in a slightly more literal way. let's align the translation with our understanding of 余 as meaning "too much":

おすしがあまり好きじゃない。 = i don't like sushi too much.

wait a minute—isn't this totally something we would say in english?! the register (tone) of the two translations might be a little different, but i think we can agree they mean the same thing! wow, elucidating, right?

let's see one more example for thoroughness' sake:

未完成だから、あまり見ないでください。 = it's not finished, so please don't look too much [= stare].

this one's a little more complex, so i've included a both a literal translation and an "understood" or figurative translation. 「あまり見ないで」 literally means "don't look too much," but using our understanding of how the world works, we can safely say this phrase means "don't stare." so, while it's very helpful to know the original/most basic meaning of あまり, we don't have to stay beholden to it when we translate!

now that we've delved into our good friend negative あまり, let's move onto its more elusive counterpart!

affirmative あまり（に／にも／の） = yes too much!

we're finally ready to discuss the mysterious affirmative あまり!!

let's keep in mind what we've learned so far: at its most basic, あまり means "too much." but now that we're no longer using it in negative sentences, i wonder how it'll turn out...? let's see an example:

あまり（に）疲れていて家を出られなかった。 = i was too tired and couldn't leave the house. [= i was so tired i couldn't leave the house.]

ooh, a complicated one right off the bat—but i think we can handle it! first, the literal translation: 「あまり（に）疲れていて」 literally means "i [was] too tired," fitting with our new understanding of あまり perfectly. but if we take this literal meaning to the next level, we can come up with a very natural english translation: "i was so tired that i couldn't leave the house" (or, "i was too tired to leave" also works). so long as the focus of our translation is on excess, we're more or less free to use whatever words we want, whether that's "so" or "too" or otherwise.

here's one more example:

「あまり」はあまりにもややこしすぎる！ = "あまり" is way too confusing!

whoa, triple whammy—あまりに + も + すぎる! hopefully this isn't you, because this speaker is EXTRA pissed about how complicated (they think) あまり is. if you really want to drive your point home, you can add も and/or すぎる to your (affirmative) あまり sentence and really blow them away with just how TOO MUCH there is. good to know!

and lastly, let's see affirmative あまり as a の-adjective, just to cover all our bases:

あまりの怒りで話せなくなった。 = she was too angry and couldn't speak. [= she was so angry she couldn't speak.]

lucky for us, あまりの falls into our translations (literal and understood) exactly the same way as あまりに. we can even imagine an あまりに version of this sentence pretty easily! (「あまりに怒っていて...。」) in fact, due to the work 〜なくなる is putting in, i would actually argue for the understood translation being more accurate than the literal translation in this case! wow, translating is so complicated....but not あまりに!!

....ok i'll see myself out!!!

あまりの説明をしちゃったかな...。（笑）

well, as we all know, i love overkill, so i hope today's episode of 紛らわしい言葉コーナー was sufficiently detailed! as a final note, i'll repeat what i said at the very beginning, which is that あまり sometimes shows up as あんまり or あんま in casual speech, so keep an eye out for those variants too.

anyway, next time you see affirmative あまり in the wild, you can say, 「これはあんまに簡単じゃん！」 (or something lol). see you guys next time! お疲れ様でした！！

〜類 is a common suffix that modifies its root to mean "all kinds of ~". this doesn't exactly mean various or diverse, but rather every or the whole lot of them or similar. because of that, words ending in 〜類 tend to get translated into english in the plural or as collectives!

here are some common ones:

種類（しゅるい） = types, kinds

書類（しょるい） = documents

衣類（いるい） = clothing

親類（しんるい） = relatives

麺類（めんるい） = noodles

豆類（まめるい） = legumes

酒類（しゅるい） = alcoholic drinks

鳥類（ちょうるい） = birds

魚類（ぎょるい） = fish

人類（じんるい） = humanity, mankind

these verbs are both related to the adjective 甘い (あまい), meaning "sweet". while 甘い generally means literally sweet (e.g., like candy), these verbs are about being sweet metaphorically, usually to bad results.

〜を甘やかす（あまやかす） = to dote on, spoil || 子供などを厳しくしつけないで、わがままにさせておく

子どもを甘やかしすぎるのはよくない。 = it's not good to dote on children too much.

末っ子が甘やかされて育った。 = their youngest child grew up being spoiled.

〜に甘える（あまえる） = to behave like a spoiled child; to (selfishly) depend on || かわいがってもらおうとして、まとわりついたり物をねだったりする; 相手の好意に遠慮なくよりかかる

あの子はお母さんに甘えてばかりいる。 = that child does nothing but bother their mother for attention.

衝撃（しょうげき） = impact, shock (physical or psychological)

衝動（しょうどう） = impulse, urge

振動（しんどう） = vibration, oscillation