Many times the expression ohayou gozaimasu [おはようございます] is translated as good morning, but is that really its meaning? And what if I say no?
Any dictionary you read will simply say that ohayou means good morning. In fact, we have even written an article that talks about greetings and good morning in Japanese.
Table of Contents
What does Ohayou mean?
The word ohayou [おはよう] is actually derived from the adjective hayai [早い] which means early or fast. In this case, its origin comes from early, which is why it is often translated as good morning.
The term originated in the Kabuki world, by people who were arriving at the location and already found others there. The term means something like “arrived early at”.
It takes time for Kabuki actors to prepare, so they arrive and get ready long before the performance starts. The word means an early arrival.
In this case, such a word began to be used generally in everyday life for anyone you meet for the first time in the day. Thus becoming good morning.
The term can be written with the ideogram [お早う] but is usually found only in hiragana.
What does Gozaimasu mean?
We have already written a complete article talking about the meaning of Gozaimasu. This word derives from the verb gozaru a polite form of desu or the verb to be.
Nowadays gozaimasu is used at the end of expressions to increase their strength, express humility and politeness. It is the formal way to say good morning.
That is, generally Japanese people who know each other and have some intimacy tend to use only ohayou. Gozaimasu is used only when they want to be more formal.
Ohayou can be used at Night
When consulting jisho.org you find a brief description in gray saying that ohayou can be used colloquially at any time of the day.
That’s right, although the general term today is translated as good morning, its origin refers to the meeting of people in a workplace regardless of the time.
Its meaning “arrived early” does not specifically refer to the morning part. For this reason, do not be surprised if you find people saying ohayou at night in the factory.
It is worth noting that the word originated in the entertainment world where most of it took place at night.
Ohayou in other dialects
To finish, let’s leave a complete list of the word Ohayou in the 48 regional dialects of Japan.
| Hokkaido | おはよー |
| Aomori | おはよーごし |
| Iwate | おはよがんす |
| Miyagi | おはよー |
| Akita | おはよー |
| Yamagata | はやえなっす |
| Fukushima | はやえなっす |
| Ibaraki | おはよー |
| Tochigi | おはよー |
| Gunma | おはよー |
| Saitama | おはよー |
| Chiba | おはよー |
| Tokyo | おはよー |
| Kanagawa | おはよー |
| Niigata | おはよー |
| Toyama | おはよー |
| Ishikawa | おはよー |
| Fukui | おはよさん |
| Yamanashi | おはよーごいす |
| Nagano | おはよーござんす |
| Gifu | おはよー |
| Shizuoka | いあんばいです |
| Aichi | はやいなも |
| Shiga | おはよーさん |
| Kyoto | おはよーさん |
| Osaka | おはよーさん |
| Hyogo | おはよーさん |
| Nara | おはよーさん |
| Wakayama | はやいのー |
| Tottori | おはよーござんす |
| Shimane | おはよ |
| Okayama | おはよー |
| Hiroshima | おはよーがんす |
| Yamaguchi | おはよーごぁんす |
| Tokushima | おはよーがーす |
| Kagawa | おはよーござんす |
| Ehime | おはよー |
| Kochi | おはよー |
| Fukuoka | おはよーござす |
| Saga | おはよーござんした |
| Nagasaki | おはよー |
| Kumamoto | おはよーござるます |
| Oita | おはよー |
| Miyazaki | はえのー |
| Kagoshima | こんちゃらごあす |
| Okinawa | っうきみそーちー |
Leave a Reply