一生懸命

• 読み: いっしょうけんめい
• ローマ字: isshoukenmei
• 漢字の分解: 一 (ichi) — one; 生 (shou/sei) — life; 懸 (ken/ka) — hang, suspend; 命 (mei/inochi) — life, fate
• 発音: /iɕ.ɕo.ɯ.keɴ.me.i/

意味

Very hard; with utmost effort; with all one's might. Describes putting maximum effort into something.

Functions as an adverb, na-adjective, and noun. 一生懸命勉強する (study with all one's might), 一生懸命な人 (a hardworking person). Originally 一所懸命 (issho kenmei, staking one's life on one's land), the modern form 一生懸命 reinterprets 一所 (one place) as 一生 (one's whole life) — intensifying the meaning to staking one's entire life.

例文

1. 試験のために一生懸命勉強しています。
2. 彼は一生懸命働いて家族を支えている。
3. 子供たちは一生懸命走っていた。

使い方ガイド

場面: effort, work, study

トーン: positive

起源と歴史

Originally 一所懸命 — a samurai term meaning to stake one's life on defending one's territory. 一所 (one place) shifted to 一生 (one's whole life), broadening the meaning from land defence to any wholehearted effort.

文化的背景

時代: Medieval

世代: All ages

社会的背景: Universal