廻る

Japanese

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
廻
み Jinmeiyō
kun'yomi

Alternative spelling
回る

From Old Japanese. First attested in the Kojiki of 712, with the phonetic spelling 微流 (⟨mi₂ ru⟩).^[1] This contrasts with 見(み)る (miru, “to see, to look at”), which had the Old Japanese phonetic spelling of 美流 (⟨mi₁ ru⟩), indicating a different "i" vowel. See also Old Japanese § Vowels on Wikipedia.Wikipedia .

While only attested in the form mi₂ru, consistent with a 上(かみ)一(いち)段(だん)活(かつ)用(よう) (kami ichidan katsuyō) or "upper monograde conjugation", some Japanese references propose that this may have left evidence of a 上(かみ)二(に)段(だん)活(かつ)用(よう) (kami nidan katsuyō) or "upper bigrade conjugation", taking the terminal or predicative form mu, as seen in the possibly compound verb 回(た)む・廻(た)む (tamu, “to turn, to revolve, to bend”, now obsolete), which was conjugated in the upper bigrade pattern.^[1]

Speculatively, this might be related to 舞(ま)う (mau, “to turn, to revolve, to spin; to dance”).

Japanese references that include pitch accent do not show any such details for this word, suggesting that it may have fallen out of use.^[2]^[3]

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [mʲiɾɯ̟]

Verb

廻(み)る • (miru) ichidan (stem 廻(み) (mi), past 廻(み)た (mita))

[from 712] (archaic, possibly obsolete) to turn, to revolve

Conjugation

Conjugation of "廻る" (See Appendix:Japanese verbs)

Katsuyōkei ("stem forms")
Mizenkei ("imperfective")	廻	み	mi
Ren’yōkei ("continuative")	廻	み	mi
Shūshikei ("terminal")	廻る	みる	miru
Rentaikei ("attributive")	廻る	みる	miru
Kateikei ("hypothetical")	廻れ	みれ	mire
Meireikei ("imperative")	廻よ¹ 廻ろ²	みよ¹ みろ²	miyo¹ miro²
Key constructions
Passive	廻られる	みられる	mirareru
Causative	廻させる廻さす	みさせるみさす	misaseru misasu
Potential	廻られる廻れる³	みられるみれる³	mirareru mireru³
Volitional	廻よう	みよう	miyō
Negative	廻ない廻ぬ廻ん	みないみぬみん	minai minu min
Negative continuative	廻ず	みず	mizu
Formal	廻ます	みます	mimasu
Perfective	廻た	みた	mita
Conjunctive	廻て	みて	mite
Hypothetical conditional	廻れば	みれば	mireba
¹ Written imperative ² Spoken imperative ³ Colloquial potential

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
廻
まわ Jinmeiyō
kun'yomi

Kanji in this term
廻
めぐ Jinmeiyō
kun'yomi

For pronunciation and definitions of 廻る – see the following entries.

【回まわる】

[verb] to turn; to revolve; to spin

[verb] to circulate

[verb] to go around

[verb] to return

[verb] to prevail

[verb] (of a camera) to roll

[verb] to come around to (a point of view)

【巡めぐる】

[verb] go around, travel around

[verb] circle, surround

[verb] return, repeat

[verb] concern (usually in the form of を + めぐる or めぐって)

Alternative spellings
回る, 運る

(This term, 廻る, is an alternative spelling of the above terms.)

References

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 “廻る”, in 日本国語大辞典 [Nihon Kokugo Daijiten]‎^[1] (in Japanese), concise edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, 2006
^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
^ NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN

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

[NKDc-1] 1.0 ^1.1 “廻る”, in 日本国語大辞典 [Nihon Kokugo Daijiten]‎^[1] (in Japanese), concise edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, 2006

[DJR-2] Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

[NHK-3] NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN

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