🌏 Region(s): Honshu (Standard)
せく【咳く】 : seku | define meaning
seku
Pronunciation: /seku/
Definition
Verb
- (Obsolete) To cough; to cough up
- せいているひと【咳いている人】
seiteiru hito
"People who are coughing" - ひどくせくとき【ひどく咳く時】
hidoku seku toki
"When you have a bad cough" - せきをせく【咳を咳く・咳をせく】
seki o seku
"To cough (a cough)", "To let out a cough"
- せいているひと【咳いている人】
Etymology
Historical attestations:
- An English and Japanese and Japanese and English Vocabulary (1830), by Walter Henry Medhurst, records only the nominal form "セキ Seki... A cough, cold, hoarseness"
- A Japanese and English Dictionary: With an English and Japanese Index (1867), by James Curtis Hepburn, records "Seki, -ku, -ita, セク, 咳, t.v. To cough." and includes examples such as "Seite neraremasen, I could not sleep for coughing. Seki wo [seku], to cough. Tan wo seki-dasu, to cough up phlegm".
- A Japanese-English and English-Japanese Dictionary (1872), by James Curtis Hepburn, records only the nominal form "Seki, セキ, 咳, n. A cough".
- 日本大辞書 Nihon dai jisho (1894), by Binyō Yamada, records "セク{(咳)く}(...) 咳ヲスル".
- An Unabridged Japanese-English Dictionary (1896), by Frank Brinkley et al., records "Seku, セク, 咳, v.i. To cough" as well as the phrase "Seki wo seku. 咳ヲ咳ク To cough."
Discussion:
- Unclear relation between せく【急く】 seku "to breathe with difficulty" (esp. in いきせく【息急く】 ikiseku "to pant, to gasp (for air)") , せく【咳く】 seku "to cough", せく【塞く・堰く】 seku "to block; dam" and historical senses of せく seku including "to block (a road)", "to shut (a door)", "to interfere (in relations)", "to feel pain (in one's chest or stomach)", "to be squeezed [jostled] by a crowd, to be crowded". Several sources (including the 日本国語大辞典) group these senses together under the same origin but exclude the sense of "to hurry".
- The word せき【関】 seki "gate, barrier" (historically for collecting a toll) is likely related to the senses of "block (a road)" or "shut (a door)".
Notes
This verb is somewhat literary today. Most speakers opt instead for the expression せきをする【咳をする】 seki o suru "to cough".
Spelling
Orthography | Form |
---|---|
Kanji | 咳く |
Kana | せく |
Romanization | seku |
Pronunciation (IPA) | /seku/ |
意味:せきをする【咳をする】、しわぶく【咳く】
咳く
Cite this entry: Read, Zachary. (2023, August 6). せく【咳く】 : seku | define meaning. JLect: Japonic Languages and Dialects Database. Retrieved 2025, January 20, from https://www.jlect.com/entry/5410/seku/.