すげえ

Japanese

Alternative spelling
凄え

Etymology

Sound shift from すごい (sugoi), whereby the final /oi/ monophthongizes into /eː/.

Date of first attestation is unclear. This is a prevalent modern slang form. That said, this kind of vowel shift can be found at various times and in various languages around the world. Within Japanese, compare the historical development of いい (ī) from よい (yoi) via medial form えい (ei), where the following /i/ caused the fronting of the /o/ to /e/. Alternatively, consider the development of Old Japanese vowel sounds from Proto-Japonic, as described at w:Proto-Japonic_language#vowel_sequence_reflexes. Outside of Japanese, compare the evolution of the pronunciation from Middle Korean through to modern Korean, as recorded in the hangul ㅔ (now /e/, originally /ʌi/, ㅐ (now /ɛ/, originally /ai/, and ㅢ (now /e/ in some contexts, originally /ɯi/).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [sɨɡe̞ː]

Adjective

すげえ or すげぇ • (sugē) 

  1. (informal) alternative form of すごい (sugoi, “awesome”, terminal or attributive form)
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