調べる
しらべる
hepburn shiraberu
to investigate, to look up
Part of speech · ichidan-verb
Pattern visualization
no decomposition available
Examples
- 辞書で意味を調べる。I look up the meaning in a dictionary.
- 事実を調べた。I investigated the facts.
Collocations
調べる (shiraberu, look up / investigate)調査 (chousa, investigation)辞書 (jisho, dictionary)検索 (kensaku, search engine query)ググる (guguru, to google, coined)
Mnemonic
しらべる — 調べる, a Yamato stem with the kanji 調. An ichidan verb. Transitive. The kanji 調 is 言 (word) + 周 (around) = 'asking words all around' ── the etymology of looking into something. One verb holds three shades ── looking up: 辞書で調べる (look it up in a dictionary). investigation: 事実を調べる (investigate the facts), 警察が調べる (the police investigate). examination: 健康診断で調べる (examine at a health check). A delightful Japanese neologism, ググる guguru ── made by attaching the Japanese verb ending る to the English 'Google'. It settled into speech around 2002. Japanese has the productive power to verb a foreign noun by adding る. The Korean reading jo is sister to the onyomi ちょう ── 調査 chousa (investigation).
Quick check
Etymology and era of guguru?