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Definition 2024

今日は

Japanese

Kanji in this term
今	日
こん Grade: 2	にち Grade: 1

Interjection

今日は ‎(hiragana こんにちは, romaji konnichi wa)

good day, good afternoon: a Japanese greeting used in the daytime

Coordinate terms

おはようございます ‎(ohayō gozaimasu): good morning
今晩 (こんばん)は ‎(konban wa): good evening
お休 (やす)みなさい ‎(oyasumi nasai): good night (said when parting company)

References

↑ 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13905-9

2002, Ineko Kondō; Fumi Takano; Mary E Althaus; et. al., Shogakukan Progressive Japanese-English Dictionary, Third Edition, Tokyo: Shōgakukan, ISBN 4095102535.

Etymology

From 今日 ‎(konnichi, “this day, today”) + は ‎(wa, topic particle); shortened from various possible expressions such as 今日は御機嫌いかがですか (konnichi wa go-kigen ikaga desu ka, "How are you doing today?") or 今日は良い天気ですね (konnichi wa yoi tenki desu ne, "it's fine weather today, isn't it").

Pronunciation

(Tokyo) こんにちは [kòńníchí wáꜜ] (Odaka - [5])^[1]
IPA^(key): [kõ̞nnit͡ɕi ɰᵝa̠], [kõ̞nit͡ɕi ɰᵝä]

In faster or more informal speech, the uvular nasal ɴ is not fully pronounced.