Word Detail
Romaji:
Japanese:
Kana:
MAYONAKA
真夜中
まよなか
| Meaning: | midnight |
| Level: | N2 High |
| Lexical Category: | Noun (名詞) |
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AI Explanation
The Japanese word 真夜中, pronounced まよなか (mayonaka), means "midnight." It refers to the middle of the night, typically the time around 12:00 AM (midnight). It is a noun and signifies the deepest part of the night when most people are asleep. It often carries a sense of darkness, quietness, and the stillness of night.
⚫︎真夜中に電話が鳴った。 Translation: The phone rang at midnight. ⚫︎真夜中まで勉強した。 Translation: I studied until midnight. ⚫︎その事件は真夜中に起きた。 Translation: That incident happened at midnight.
⚫︎You can use 真夜中 to describe an event, activity, or feeling that occurs or happens at midnight. ⚫︎It is used in various contexts, including describing time, setting a scene in a story, or talking about events that occur during the night. ⚫︎When you use 真夜中, you usually want to emphasize the late hour, the darkness, or the privacy.
⚫︎真夜中 is written using the kanji 真 (しん - true, genuine) and 夜中 (よなか - midnight, in the middle of the night). ⚫︎The hiragana reading is まよなか. ⚫︎There is no other way to write this word. The okurigana (送りがな) is fixed.
There aren't direct synonyms but words that relate to the timing can be used to say the same thing. ⚫︎夜中 (よなか - midnight, nighttime): a more general term for the middle of the night. ⚫︎深夜 (しんや - late at night, very late at night): a term that is close to the meaning of 真夜中.
⚫︎昼 (ひる - daytime, noon) ⚫︎朝 (あさ - morning) ⚫︎夕方 (ゆうがた - evening)
真夜中、誰もいない公園を一人で歩いた。 ・Translation: I walked alone in the empty park at midnight. ・Explanation: This sentence describes the action of walking in a park at 真夜中, emphasizing the solitude and the quiet of the time.
真夜中に、怖い夢を見て目が覚めた。 ・Translation: I woke up because I had a scary dream at midnight. ・Explanation: This sentence describes that at 真夜中, a scary dream caused the person to wake up.
The word 真夜中 is composed of two parts: 真 (しん - true, genuine, real) and 夜中 (よなか - midnight, in the middle of the night). 真 likely intensifies the meaning of 夜中. 夜中 is the period of time in the middle of the night. Therefore, the combination emphasizes the “true” or “deepest” part of the night.