1

While playing a game, one of the characters said (the text is in English and the voice is in Japanese):

  • 君はずっと働きずめだったから、今日はもう寝な。

My conjecture is that the correct written form is 働きずめ, but is that correct? Is it 働きづめ or 働きずめ? Moreover, are there any other words constructed with that same suffix?

Improve this question
1

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
3

No, it's not correct.

When you break that down, it's 働{はたら}き+詰{つ}め. So, it must be with つ+濁点{だくてん}(゛) - づ.

The method is called 連濁{れんだく}. I'll leave the explain to wikipedia and question/answer that I linked in comment at OP.

There's much more like this one, such as:

  • 生{い}き辛{づら}い = 生{い}きる+辛{つら}い
  • 磯釣{いそづ}り = 磯{いそ}+釣{つ}り
  • 折{お}り鶴{づる} = 折{お}り+鶴{つる}
  • 寿司詰{すしづ}め = 寿司{すし}+詰{づ}め
Improve this answer
10
  • 1
    Okay, now I know it's spelled as 働きづめ, thanks. But 連濁 was not my point. What I asked would be, then, if there are any other words of the form V + 詰め.
    – Elizabeth Middleford
    Commented Aug 30, 2021 at 23:25
  • 1
    @ElizabethMiddleford The examples in this link are all づめ. As a post-masu-stem suffix, 働きづめ should be the most common, but it can attach to a few other verbs.
    – naruto
    Commented Aug 31, 2021 at 0:43
  • 2
    「さしずめ」（差し詰め） may be special, being an established adverb, perhaps?
    – chocolate ♦
    Commented Aug 31, 2021 at 0:45
  • @Chocolate According to goo ずめ/づめ they both are fine I think? Still, most of time we write that in hiragana, and I think I've never seen さしずめ written as さしづめ except dictionary/old article, so...
    – Skye-AT
    Commented Aug 31, 2021 at 1:15
  • According to this, the distinctions are ultimately fuzzy. 現代仮名遣いでは、複合語であるなどの語源意識が残っており、「ち」「つ」などから生じたことが明らかである場合に「ぢ」「づ」を用いることになっているが、語源意識が残っているかどうかを客観的に定めることは難しく、どうしても主観的にならざるを得ない（中略）「現代仮名遣い」では、「世界中」「稲妻」などの一部の語は、「じ」「ず」で書くことを本則とし、「ぢ」「づ」で書くことも許容するという方針が打ち出された
    – sundowner
    Commented Aug 31, 2021 at 3:34

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .