Japanese

omopoyu → omofoyu → obowoyu → oboyu

This change is already evident by the early Heian period.

• regular historical grammatical shifts occurring for classical 下二段活用 ‎(shimo nidan katsuyō, “lower bigrade conjugation”) verbs:

oboyu → oboyuru → oboyeru → oboeru

This set of shifts occurred during the Kamakura and Muromachi periods.

The verb was originally used in intransitive and passive contexts, in accordance with its derivation. It began to be used in more active and transitive contexts starting from roughly the mid-Heian period, with the learn and memorize senses appearing in the Kamakura period.^[1]

Verb

覚える ‎(transitive, ichidan conjugation, hiragana おぼえる, romaji oboeru)

1. to recall, to remember
   • 2003 August 12, CLAMP, “記き憶おくの対たい価か [The Cost of Memory]”, in ツバサ-RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE- [Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE], volume 1 (fiction, in Japanese), Tokyo: Kodansha, ISBN 4-06-363277-6, page 74:

     てめー！覚 (おぼ)えてろよ——‼

     Temē! Oboetero yo——‼

     Just you wait, bitch——‼

2. to learn
3. to memorize

   歌詞 (かし)を覚 (おぼ)える

   kashi o oboeru

   to memorize lyrics

4. to feel (an emotion or sense)

   違和感 (いわかん)を覚 (おぼ)える

   iwakan o oboeru

   to get the sense that something is off

Conjugation

Antonyms

• (recall, remember): 忘 (わす)れる ‎(wasureru): to forget

Synonyms

• (recall, remember): 思 (おも)い出 (だ)す ‎(omoidasu)

References

1. 1 2 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
2. ↑ 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13905-9