Chinese

Noun

今朝

1. (Cantonese) this morning

   我今朝食早餐嗰陣時食得太多喇，到而家都仲未肚餓。 [Cantonese, trad.]

   我今朝食早餐𠮶阵时食得太多喇，到而家都仲未肚饿。 [Cantonese, simp.]

   Ngo⁵gam¹ ziu¹ sik⁶ zou² caan¹ go² zan⁶ si⁴ sik⁶ dak¹ taai³ do¹ laa³, dou³ ji⁴ gaa¹ dou¹ zung⁶ mei⁶ tou⁵ ngo⁶. [Jyutping]

   I ate too much for breakfast this morning, so I'm still not hungry yet.

2. (literary, regional) today; now; at the present time

   年年都有今日，歲歲都有今朝，恭喜你，恭喜你！ [Literary Cantonese, trad.]

   年年都有今日，岁岁都有今朝，恭喜你，恭喜你！ [Literary Cantonese, simp.]

   From: 祝壽歌 (Birthday Song)

   Nin⁴ nin⁴ dou¹ jau⁵ gam¹ jat⁶, seoi³ seoi³ dou¹ jau⁵gam¹ ziu¹, gung¹ hei² nei⁵, gung¹ hei² nei⁵! [Jyutping]

Synonyms

• (today):

Derived terms

• (now, today): 今朝有酒今朝醉 (jīnzhāo yǒu jiǔ jīnzhāo zuì)

Japanese

Etymology 1

From Old Japanese. Originally a compound of 此 ‎(ke, “this”) +‎ 朝 ‎(asa, “morning”).

The initial /ke/ is an alternative form of the initial /ko/ (此, “this”) seen in words such as ここ ‎(koko, “this place → here”) or これ ‎(kore, “this [nominal] → this”), and the final /sa/ is a contraction from */ke.asa/ to /kesa/ with the medial -a- falling out, as Old Japanese did not permit vowel clusters.

The use of the kanji 今 ‎(“now”) instead of 此 ‎(“this”) is an example of jukujikun.

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• (Tokyo) け​さ [kéꜜsà] (Atamadaka - [1])^[1]
• IPA^(key): [ke̞sa̠]

Adverb

今朝 ‎(hiragana けさ, romaji kesa)

1. this morning

Noun

今朝 ‎(hiragana けさ, romaji kesa)

1. this morning

Etymology 2

From Middle Chinese compound 今朝 ‎(kim trjew, literally “now morning”). /konteu/ → /kontjoː/. The /eu/ → /joː/ sound shift is a regular phonological change.

Pronunciation

• On'yomi: Goon
• (Tokyo) こんちょう [kòńchóó] (Heiban - [0])^[1]
• IPA^(key): [kõ̞nt͡ɕo̞ː]

Noun

今朝 ‎(hiragana こんちょう, romaji konchō, historical hiragana こんてう)

1. this morning

References

1. 1 2 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13905-9