眺める

Japanese

Kanji in this term
眺
なが Grade: S
kun'yomi

Etymology

Modern form of classical 下二段活用 (shimo nidan katsuyō, “lower bigrade conjugation”) verb 眺む (nagamu).^[1] Related to adjective 長い (nagai, “long”), possibly deriving from 長 (naga, “long”) +‎ む (mu, verbalizing suffix, with an underlying meaning of “becoming that way”). Alternatively, may originally derive from the compound 長眺 (naga me, literally “long watching, long gaze”) found in the Kojiki of 711-712 CE.^[1]

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) ながめる [nàgáméꜜrù] (Nakadaka – [3])^[2][3]
• IPA^(key): [na̠ɡa̠me̞ɾɯ̟]

Source: Online Japanese Accent Dictionary
Stem forms
Terminal (終止形) Attributive (連体形)	眺める	ながめる	[nàgáméꜜrù]
Imperative (命令形)	眺めろ	ながめろ	[nàgáméꜜrò]
Key constructions
Passive	眺められる	ながめられる	[nàgáméráréꜜrù]
Causative	眺めさせる	ながめさせる	[nàgámésáséꜜrù]
Potential	眺められる	ながめられる	[nàgáméráréꜜrù]
Volitional	眺めよう	ながめよー	[nàgáméyóꜜò]
Negative	眺めない	ながめない	[nàgáméꜜnàì]
Negative perfective	眺めなかった	ながめなかった	[nàgáméꜜnàkàttà]
Formal	眺めます	ながめます	[nàgámémáꜜsù]
Perfective	眺めた	ながめた	[nàgáꜜmètà]
Conjunctive	眺めて	ながめて	[nàgáꜜmètè]
Hypothetical conditional	眺めれば	ながめれば	[nàgáméꜜrèbà]

• Tokyo pitch accent of conjugated forms of 「眺める」

Verb

眺(なが)める • (nagameru) transitive ichidan (stem 眺(なが)め (nagame), past 眺(なが)めた (nagameta))

1. to look at, to view, to gaze

   Often implies for a longer period of time than 見る (miru, “to see, to look at”).

2. to watch something for a continuous period of time
3. to look at and consider something carefully
4. to observe or look off at something in the distance
5. to space out, to be lost in thought

Conjugation

Katsuyōkei ("stem forms")
Mizenkei ("imperfective")	眺め	ながめ	nagame
Ren’yōkei ("continuative")	眺め	ながめ	nagame
Shūshikei ("terminal")	眺める	ながめる	nagameru
Rentaikei ("attributive")	眺める	ながめる	nagameru
Kateikei ("hypothetical")	眺めれ	ながめれ	nagamere
Meireikei ("imperative")	眺めよ¹ 眺めろ²	ながめよ¹ ながめろ²	nagameyo¹ nagamero²
Key constructions
Passive	眺められる	ながめられる	nagamerareru
Causative	眺めさせる 眺めさす	ながめさせる ながめさす	nagamesaseru nagamesasu
Potential	眺められる 眺めれる³	ながめられる ながめれる³	nagamerareru nagamereru³
Volitional	眺めよう	ながめよう	nagameyō
Negative	眺めない 眺めぬ 眺めん	ながめない ながめぬ ながめん	nagamenai nagamenu nagamen
Negative continuative	眺めず	ながめず	nagamezu
Formal	眺めます	ながめます	nagamemasu
Perfective	眺めた	ながめた	nagameta
Conjunctive	眺めて	ながめて	nagamete
Hypothetical conditional	眺めれば	ながめれば	nagamereba
¹ Written imperative ² Spoken imperative ³ Colloquial potential

Conjugation of "眺める" (See Appendix:Japanese verbs.)

Synonyms

• (look at): 見(み)る (miru)
• (watch): 傍観(ぼうかん)する (bōkan suru), 見詰(みつ)める (mitsumeru)
• (consider): 考慮(こうりょ)する (kōryo suru)
• (look off): 見遣(みや)る (miyaru), 見渡(みわた)す (miwatasu)

References

1. Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
2. NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN
3. Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN