おやすみ
おやすみ
hepburn oyasumi
good night
Part of speech · expression
Pattern visualization
no decomposition available
Examples
- お父さん、おやすみなさい。Goodnight, Dad.
- もう遅いから、おやすみ。It's late, so goodnight.
Collocations
おやすみ (oyasumi, goodnight — casual)おやすみなさい (oyasumi nasai, goodnight — polite)寝る (neru, sleep)夢 (yume, dream)良い夢を (yoi yume wo, sweet dreams)
Mnemonic
おやすみ oyasumi — お (honorific) + 休み (yasumi, rest). Literal: "rest [well]" — sleep cast as rest. Polite form おやすみなさい (nasai = polite imperative). Said before bed to family, partner, friends. The same kanji 休 appears on shop signs as お休み ("closed for the day"). A noun derived from 休む (yasumu, to rest) ossified as a greeting — one kanji branches between commerce ("closed") and intimate farewell ("goodnight").
Quick check
How does 休 work for both "shop closed" (お休み) and "goodnight" (おやすみ)?