参る

⟨mawi iru⟩ → /mawiru/ → /mairu/

From Old Japanese. First attested in the Nihon Shoki of 720.^[1]

Originally a compound of 參(まい) (mai, the 連(れん)用(よう)形(けい) (ren'yōkei, “stem or continuative form”) of Old Japanese verb 參る (mawiru → mairu, “to go, particularly to the place or person of a social superior”, humble)) + 入(い)る (iru, “to enter”).^[1][2][3] Old Japanese did not allow vowel clusters, resulting in the shortening of mawi iru to mawiru. See the Old Japanese entry for the etymology of the original mawiru, not to be confused with the mawiru contracted from mawi iru.

The transitive senses are obsolete in modern Japanese.

• (Tokyo) まいる [máꜜìrù] (Atamadaka – [1])^[3][4][5]
• IPA^(key): [ma̠iɾɯ̟]

参(まい)る • (mairu) ^{←まゐる (mawiru)?}transitive or intransitive godan (stem 参(まい)り (mairi), past 参(まい)った (maitta))

1. [from 720] (intransitive, humble) to go

   このエレベーターは上(うえ)へ参(まい)ります。

   Kono erebētā wa ue e mairimasu.

   This lift is going up.

   では、参(まい)ります。

   De wa, mairimasu.

   Let us start.

2. [from early 1000s] (intransitive, humble) to come

   電(でん)車(しゃ)がまいります。 ― densha ga mairimasu. ― The train is arriving.

3. [from late 900s] (intransitive) to visit (typically a place of social or spiritual importance, such as a noble's house or a shrine)

   墓(はか)に参(まい)る ― haka ni mairu ― to visit a grave

   神(じん)社(じゃ)に参(まい)る ― jinja ni mairu ― to visit a shrine

4. to be overcome, to cede to a superior person or superior circumstances (by extension from the older "go to a superior" sense)
   1. [from late 1500s] (intransitive) to lose to an opponent

      参(まい)ったな。 ― maitta na. ― You got me.

   2. [from early 1900s] (intransitive) to be bothered, overwhelmed, done in by circumstances

      暑(あつ)さに参(まい)る

      atsusa ni mairu

      to be done in by the heat

   3. [from early 1900s] (intransitive) to die
   4. [from early 1900s] (intransitive) to fall for someone romantically
5. (transitive, humble, archaic) to go to (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?)
6. [late 900s–???] (transitive, humble, archaic) to serve someone in some capacity, to do something for someone
7. [1478–???] (transitive, humble, archaic) a 脇付 (wakizuke, “respectful title written after an addressee's name”) on the side of a formal letter

• 参(まい)らす (mairasu)

• (be bothered by circumstances): やられる (yarareru)

• “参る”, in 漢字ぺディア [Kanjipedia]‎^[2] (in Japanese), The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 2015–2025