# 参る
## Japanese

* Kanji in this term
* 参
* まい Grade: 4
* kun'yomi
* Alternative spelling
* 參る (kyūjitai)

### Etymology

* This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Needs cleanup -- etym is currently tautological. See 語誌 notes in NKD entry -- まゐ element is of uncertain derivation. At any rate, it cannot be the stem of まゐる if まゐる is derived from itself.”
⟨mawi iru⟩ → /mawiru/ → /mairu/
From Old Japanese. First attested in the Nihon Shoki of 720.
Originally a compound of 參 (mawi → mai, the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “stem or continuative form”) of Old Japanese verb 參る (mawiru → mairu), “to go, particularly to the place or person of a social superior”, humble) +‎ 入る (iru, “to enter”). Old Japanese did not allow vowel clusters, resulting in the shortening of mawi iru to mawiru.
The transitive senses are obsolete in modern Japanese.

### Pronunciation

* (Tokyo) まいる [máꜜìrù] (Atamadaka – [1])
* IPA: [ma̠iɾɯ̟]
* Tokyo pitch accent of conjugated forms of 「参る」
Source: Online Japanese Accent Dictionary :
| Stem forms ||||
| Terminal (終止形) Attributive (連体形) | 参る | まいる | [máꜜìrù] |
| Imperative (命令形) | 参れ | まいれ | [máꜜìrè] |
| Key constructions ||||
| Passive | 参られる | まいられる | [màíráréꜜrù] |
| Causative | 参らせる | まいらせる | [màíráséꜜrù] |
| Potential | 参れる | まいれる | [màíréꜜrù] |
| Volitional | 参ろう | まいろー | [màíróꜜò] |
| Negative | 参らない | まいらない | [màíráꜜnàì] |
| Negative perfective | 参らなかった | まいらなかった | [màíráꜜnàkàttà] |
| Formal | 参ります | まいります | [màírímáꜜsù] |
| Perfective | 参った | まいった | [máꜜìttà] |
| Conjunctive | 参って | まいって | [máꜜìttè] |
| Hypothetical conditional | 参れば | まいれば | [máꜜìrèbà] |

### Verb

参(まい)る • (mairu) transitive or intransitive godan (stem 参(まい)り (mairi), past 参(まい)った (maitta))
Japanese verb pair :
| causative | 参(まい)らせる |
| active | 参(まい)る |
| mediopassive | 参(まい)る |
* [from 720] (intransitive, humble) to go
    このエレベーターは上(うえ)へ参(まい)ります。
       Kono erebētā wa ue e mairimasu.
       This lift is going up.
    では、参(まい)ります。
       Deha, mairimasu.
       Let us start.
* [from early 1000s] (intransitive, humble) to come
    電(でん)車(しゃ)がまいります。 ― densha ga mairimasu. ― The train is arriving.
* [from late 900s] (intransitive) to visit (typically a place of social or spiritual importance, such as a noble's house or a shrine)
    墓(はか)に参(まい)る ― haka ni mairu ― to visit a grave
    神(じん)社(じゃ)に参(まい)る ― jinja ni mairu ― to visit a shrine
* to be overcome, to cede to a superior person or superior circumstances (by extension from the older "go to a superior" sense)
** [from late 1500s] (intransitive) to lose to an opponent
    参(まい)ったな。 ― maitta na. ― You got me.
** [from early 1900s] (intransitive) to be bothered, overwhelmed, done in by circumstances
    暑(あつ)さに参(まい)る
       atsusa ni mairu
       to be done in by the heat
** [from early 1900s] (intransitive) to die
** [from early 1900s] (intransitive) to fall for someone romantically
* (transitive, humble, archaic) to go to (Can we verify this sense?)
* [late 900s–???] (transitive, humble, archaic) to serve someone in some capacity, to do something for someone
* [1478–???] (transitive, humble, archaic) a 脇付 (wakizuke, “respectful title written after an addressee's name”) on the side of a formal letter

#### Conjugation

Katsuyōkei ("stem forms") :
| Mizenkei ("imperfective") | 参ら | まいら | maira |
| Ren’yōkei ("continuative") | 参り | まいり | mairi |
| Shūshikei ("terminal") | 参る | まいる | mairu |
| Rentaikei ("attributive") | 参る | まいる | mairu |
| Kateikei ("hypothetical") | 参れ | まいれ | maire |
| Meireikei ("imperative") | 参れ | まいれ | maire |
| Key constructions ||||
| Passive | 参られる | まいられる | mairareru |
| Causative | 参らせる 参らす | まいらせる まいらす | mairaseru mairasu |
| Potential | 参れる | まいれる | maireru |
| Volitional | 参ろう | まいろう | mairō |
| Negative | 参らない | まいらない | mairanai |
| Negative continuative | 参らず | まいらず | mairazu |
| Formal | 参ります | まいります | mairimasu |
| Perfective | 参った | まいった | maitta |
| Conjunctive | 参って | まいって | maitte |
| Hypothetical conditional | 参れば | まいれば | maireba |
Stem forms :
| Irrealis (未然形) | 参ら | まゐら | mawira |
| Continuative (連用形) | 参り | まゐり | mawiri |
| Terminal (終止形) | 参る | まゐる | mawiru |
| Attributive (連体形) | 参る | まゐる | mawiru |
| Realis (已然形) | 参れ | まゐれ | mawire |
| Imperative (命令形) | 参れ | まゐれ | mawire |
| Key constructions ||||
| Negative | 参らず | まゐらず | mawirazu |
| Contrasting conjunction | 参れど | まゐれど | mawiredo |
| Causal conjunction | 参れば | まゐれば | mawireba |
| Conditional conjunction | 参らば | まゐらば | mawiraba |
| Past tense (firsthand knowledge) | 参りき | まゐりき | mawiriki |
| Past tense (secondhand knowledge) | 参りけり | まゐりけり | mawirikeri |
| Perfect tense (conscious action) | 参りつ | まゐりつ | mawiritu |
| Perfect tense (natural event) | 参りぬ | まゐりぬ | mawirinu |
| Perfect-continuative tense | 参れり 参りたり | まゐれり まゐりたり | mawireri mawiritari |
| Volitional | 参らむ | まゐらむ | mawiramu |

#### Derived terms

* 参(まい)らす (mairasu)

#### See also

* (be bothered by circumstances): やられる (yarareru)

### References

* 1 2 “参”, in 日本国語大辞典 [Nihon Kokugo Daijiten]‎ (in Japanese), concise edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, 2006
* ↑ Matsumura, Akira (1995) 大辞泉 [Daijisen] (in Japanese), First edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, →ISBN
* 1 2 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
* ↑ 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
* ↑ Kindaichi, Kyōsuke et al., editors (1997), 新明解国語辞典 [Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten] (in Japanese), Fifth edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN