軒並み

• Reading: のきなみ
• Romaji: nokinami
• Kanji breakdown: 軒 (ken/noki) — eaves, counter for houses; 並 (nami/nara) — row, line up
• Pronunciation: /no.ki.na.mi/

Meaning

Row of houses; across the board; without exception. Originally refers to a line of houses, but most commonly used as an adverb meaning universally or uniformly.

While the literal meaning is a row of houses standing side by side, the overwhelmingly more common usage is adverbial: 軒並み上がる (to rise across the board), 軒並み閉店する (to close one after another without exception). It emphasises that something applies to every instance in a group, leaving nothing out. Frequently appears in news reporting about economic trends, prices, and widespread phenomena.

Examples

1. 物価が軒並み上昇している。 Prices are rising across the board.
2. 台風の影響で軒並み飛行機が欠航した。 Flights were canceled one after another due to the typhoon.
3. 商店街の店が軒並み閉まっていた。 Every single shop in the shopping district was closed.

Usage Guide

Context: news, economics, daily life

Tone: descriptive

Origin & History

From 軒 (noki, eaves of a house) + 並み (nami, row/line). Originally described the eaves of houses lined up along a street, then extended to mean 'every single one in a row' — hence the adverbial sense of 'across the board.'

Cultural Context

Era: Pre-modern

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal