# 食べる
## Japanese

* Kanji in this term
* 食
* た Grade: 2
* kun'yomi

### Etymology

From earlier Old Japanese form 食ぶ (tabu, “to (humbly) receive or get”, from a superior), a verb with the 下二段 (shimo nidan) or lower bigrade conjugation pattern. This was the humble form of 賜ぶ, 給ぶ (tabu, “to (deign to) give”, to an inferior), a verb with the full 四段 (yodan) or quadrigrade conjugation pattern.
Natural progression from Old and Classical Japanese 下二段活用 (shimo nidan katsuyō, “lower bigrade conjugation”) verbs ending in -u to modern Japanese 下一段活用 (shimo ichidan katsuyō, “lower monograde conjugation”) verbs ending in -eru.
Most likely cognate with 給う (tamau, “to give”, as a superior gives a thing to, or does something for, an inferior).
Compare the historical development of meaning from “to humbly receive” → “to eat”, with the modern use of the humble verb 頂く (itadaku, “to receive”) just before eating, in a sense of “I humbly receive this food.”

### Pronunciation

* (Tokyo) たべる [tàbéꜜrù] (Nakadaka –)
* IPA: [ta̠be̞ɾɯ̟]
* Tokyo pitch accent of conjugated forms of 「食べる」
Source: Online Japanese Accent Dictionary :
| Stem forms ||||
| Terminal (終止形) Attributive (連体形) | 食べる | たべる | [tàbéꜜrù] |
| Imperative (命令形) | 食べろ | たべろ | [tàbéꜜrò] |
| Key constructions ||||
| Passive | 食べられる | たべられる | [tàbéráréꜜrù] |
| Causative | 食べさせる | たべさせる | [tàbésáséꜜrù] |
| Potential | 食べられる | たべられる | [tàbéráréꜜrù] |
| Volitional | 食べよう | たべよー | [tàbéyóꜜò] |
| Negative | 食べない | たべない | [tàbéꜜnàì] |
| Negative perfective | 食べなかった | たべなかった | [tàbéꜜnàkàttà] |
| Formal | 食べます | たべます | [tàbémáꜜsù] |
| Perfective | 食べた | たべた | [táꜜbètà] |
| Conjunctive | 食べて | たべて | [táꜜbètè] |
| Hypothetical conditional | 食べれば | たべれば | [tàbéꜜrèbà] |

### Verb

食(た)べる • (taberu) transitive ichidan (stem 食(た)べ (tabe), past 食(た)べた (tabeta))
* to eat
    ご飯(はん)を食(た)べる
       go-han o taberu
       to eat a meal
    箸(はし)で食(た)べる
       hashi de taberu
       to eat with chopsticks
    今日(きょう)は、寿(す)司(し)を食(た)べに銀(ぎん)座(ざ)に行(い)きます。
       Kyō wa, sushi o tabe ni Ginza ni ikimasu.
       I'll go to Ginza today to eat sushi.
    食(た)べていくために
       tabeteiku tame ni
       in order to make a living (lit. in order to keep eating)
* (archaic, humble) to eat or drink
** 1603, Vocabvlario da Lingoa de Iapam (Nippo Jisho) [Vocabulary of the Language of Japan] (in Portuguese), Nagasaki, page 594:Tabe, uru, eta. タベ, ブル, ベタ (食べ, ぶる, べた) 食う, または, 飲む.(please add an English translation of this quotation)

#### Conjugation

Katsuyōkei ("stem forms") :
| Mizenkei ("imperfective") | 食べ | たべ | tabe |
| Ren’yōkei ("continuative") | 食べ | たべ | tabe |
| Shūshikei ("terminal") | 食べる | たべる | taberu |
| Rentaikei ("attributive") | 食べる | たべる | taberu |
| Kateikei ("hypothetical") | 食べれ | たべれ | tabere |
| Meireikei ("imperative") | 食べよ¹ 食べろ² | たべよ¹ たべろ² | tabeyo¹ tabero² |
| Key constructions ||||
| Passive | 食べられる | たべられる | taberareru |
| Causative | 食べさせる 食べさす | たべさせる たべさす | tabesaseru tabesasu |
| Potential | 食べられる 食べれる³ | たべられる たべれる³ | taberareru tabereru³ |
| Volitional | 食べよう | たべよう | tabeyō |
| Negative | 食べない 食べぬ 食べん | たべない たべぬ たべん | tabenai tabenu taben |
| Negative continuative | 食べず | たべず | tabezu |
| Formal | 食べます | たべます | tabemasu |
| Perfective | 食べた | たべた | tabeta |
| Conjunctive | 食べて | たべて | tabete |
| Hypothetical conditional | 食べれば | たべれば | tabereba |
| ¹ Written imperative ² Spoken imperative ³ Colloquial potential ||||

#### Synonyms

* (honorific) 召(め)し上(あ)がる (meshiagaru)
* (male, vulgar) 食(く)う (kuu)
* (of animals) 食(は)む (hamu)
* (obsolete) まぼる (maboru)
* (Tsugaru) まぐらる (maguraru)

### References

* ↑ “食”, in 日本国語大辞典 [Nihon Kokugo Daijiten]‎ (in Japanese), concise edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, 2006
* 1 2 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
   * Doi, Tadao (1603–1604) Hōyaku Nippo Jisho (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Iwanami Shoten, published 1980, →ISBN.