Japanese

Adjective

懐かしい ‎(-i inflection, hiragana なつかしい, romaji natsukashii)

1. dear, beloved, cherished, sweet
2. missed, longed for, yearned after

Inflection

Usage notes

The second meaning of 懐かしい is largely equivalent to a verb in English, even though it functions grammatically as an adjective. In this regard it is quite similar to the adjectival noun 好き ‎(suki, “liked”). In Japanese, to express a yearning for something, or a slightly nostalgic feeling of missing something, you modify the object that is missed (e.g., home, one's old neighborhood, one's friend, one's cat) with 懐かしい. In this regard, Japanese is quite unlike English.

Derived terms

References

1. 1 2 3 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
2. 1 2 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13905-9
3. ↑ 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, ISBN 978-4-14-011112-3