Chinese

Pronoun

何時

1. (literary) when; what time

   唉，我不知何時再能與他相見。 [MSC, trad.]

   唉，我不知何时再能与他相见。 [MSC, simp.]

   Ài, wǒ bùzhī héshí zài néng yǔ tā xiāngjiàn. [Pinyin]

   Alas, I do not know when I will see him again.

Japanese

Etymology 1

From Old Japanese.

The presence of other Old Japanese indefinites beginning with い (i) suggests a possible shared root of い (i, possibly “what” or “which”).

Likely cognate with eastern Old Japanese word izu, idzu (“where”), still used in modern Japanese as part of the word いずれ ‎(izure, “which”).

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• IPA^(key): [it͡sɯᵝ]

Pronoun

何時 ‎(hiragana いつ, romaji itsu)

1. when, which day

Usage notes

Itsu is most often spelled in hiragana as いつ. Itsu is more commonly used to mean when in terms of dates or days, while nanji is more commonly used to mean when in terms of time of day.

Derived terms

• 何時 (いつ)も ‎(itsu mo): always, forever, all the time

Etymology 2

Compound of 何 ‎(nan, “what”) +‎ 時 ‎(ji, “hour”). The nan portion is from Old Japanese, the ji portion is a borrowing from Middle Chinese.

Pronunciation

• Yutōyomi
• IPA^(key): [nã̠ɴd͡ʑi]

Pronoun

何時 ‎(hiragana なんじ, romaji nanji)

1. what time, when

Usage notes

Nanji is often spelled in kanji. Nanji is more commonly used to mean when in terms of time of day, while itsu is more commonly used to mean when in terms of dates or days.

Etymology 3

Compound of Old Japanese elements 何 ‎(nan, “what”) +‎ 時 ‎(toki, “time”). The toki changes to doki due to rendaku (連濁).

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• IPA^(key): [nã̠ɴdo̞ki]

Alternative forms

• 何刻

Pronoun

何時 ‎(hiragana なんどき, romaji nandoki)

1. what time, when

Usage notes

Use is more limited than nanji or itsu. Most commonly found in set phrase いつなんどき (itsu nandoki), comparable to English phrase “when and at what time”, but only used when expressing ignorance, never used in questions.