The Meaning of yorokobu [喜ぶ] In Japanese

喜ぶ
よろこぶ
Romaji: yorokobu N4

What does 喜ぶ mean?

Translation and Meaning

to be glad, to be pleased, to rejoice

Definition

喜ぶ means to feel glad or pleased about something; it expresses an internal happiness in response to a favorable event, and is used to describe the subject’s joyful reaction in everyday and formal speech.

Type

verb (五段動詞, intransitive)

Stroke Order

Meanings

  • an internal response of happiness or satisfaction to good news or a favorable outcome
  • to express joy for another person’s success or a positive development
  • used in polite forms to describe one’s own or others’ happiness in social contexts

Etymology

etymology The word combines the kanji 喜 meaning joy with the native verb ending -ぶ, using the kun reading yoroko to form the modern verb; this reflects a direct phonetic and semantic development from the kanji meaning to a plain intransitive verb expressing personal happiness.

Origin

Classical Japanese evidence for 喜ぶ appears in literary sources from the Heian period onward, with the verb in kun readings describing personal joy; through the Edo period it remained a common verb for expressing delighted reactions in conversation, poetry, and prose, maintaining its basic sense of inner happiness into modern Japanese.

Composition

  • 喜: joy, pleasure
  • ぶ: native verb ending that turns the stem into an intransitive verb

Usage

喜ぶ describes a person’s emotional reaction to a favorable event and is used with the experiencer as the subject marked by が; emphasis can be on the moment of joy or on the expression of happiness, with polite forms like 喜びます used in formal settings and 喜んで before accompanying actions to mean ‘with pleasure’.
💡 Tips
Mnemonic: picture a joyful face framed by the kanji for joy; the mouth (口) smiles as the top radical emits a small exclamation, reminding you that 喜 signals happiness when you yorokoful and then bu arrives as the verb ending.

Variations

  • 嬉しい (ureshii) — happy, often used as an adjective to describe the speaker’s current feeling
  • 歓ぶ (yorokobu) — literary/synonymous form for rejoicing, with similar pronunciation
  • 悲しむ (kanashimu) — to feel sad, antonym

Example Phrases

  • 友人の 誕生日を 知って 彼女は 喜ぶ
    yujin no tanjoubi o shitte kanojo wa yorokobu
    She is happy to learn a friend’s birthday.
    Lista:
    • 友人の (yujin no) – friend’s
    • 誕生日を (tanjoubi o) – birthday (object marker)
    • 知って (shitte) – knowing
    • 彼女は (kanojo wa) – she
    • 喜ぶ (yorokobu) – to be happy
    The target word 「喜ぶ」 is the main predicate meaning ‘to be happy,’ used with the prior 知って clause to show her reaction.
喜ぶ