The Meaning of tekkiri [てっきり] In Japanese

てっきり

Romaji: tekkiri N5

What does てっきり mean?

Translation and Meaning

surely, I thought, I took it for granted

Definition

What does てっきり mean? It means that the speaker believed something to be true with strong certainty, often to be proven wrong later, expressing a sense of surprise or disappointment when the expectation did not come true.

Type

adverb (副詞)

Stroke Order

Meanings

Expresses a strong, often mistaken belief about a situation that later proves false.
Tends to accompany a following clause describing what was believed, highlighting the speaker’s surprise.
Widely used in casual speech and storytelling to recount past misunderstandings.

Usage

Used in casual conversation to recount a past mistaken assumption; followed by a plain-form clause describing what was believed; usually appears in past tense to reflect that the assumption occurred in the past and is not common in formal writing.

💡 Tips

Mnemonic: imagine your hand (te) gripping a knife (kir(i)) until the task is completely finished, so you say it’s tekkiri to express you were sure—this helps recall the sense of certainty that later clashes with reality.

Variations

きっと (kitto) — near sense of certainty; romaji kitto
思い込んでいた (omoikonde ita) — I had assumed; romaji omoikonde ita
まさか (masaka) — expresses disbelief or surprise; romaji masaka

Example Phrases

彼女はてっきり私が来ると思っていた。

Kanojo wa tekkiri watashi ga kuru to omotteita.

She was sure I would come.
Lista:
- 彼女は (Kanojo wa) – she
- てっきり (tekkiri) – surely
- 私が (watashi ga) – I
- 来る (kuru) – come
- と思っていた (to omotteita) – thought
Core point: 「てっきり」 expresses a strong expectation that turns out differently; here it modifies 「私が来る」.