一番
いちばん
hepburn ichiban
first, best, most
Part of speech · adverb / noun
Pattern visualization
一one
番turn
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12 strokes · 8.3s
Examples
- 一番好きです。I like it the most.
- 一番乗りでした。I was the first to board.
Collocations
一番 (ichiban, most)一番好き一番大きい一番上 (top)一番下 (bottom)
Mnemonic
Ichiban (一番) is "most / first / number 1" — B + no-cluster adverb-noun dual. Two roles: (1) adverb "most" — ichiban suki (like it the most — superlative marker); (2) noun "number 1 / first" (rank, sequence). Matches English "the most" and "number 1" both. Korean jeil / 1beon split and Chinese zui / diyi split parallel; Japans single ichiban polysemous.
Quick check
Ichiban two roles?