普通

Chinese

 
general; popular; everywhere
general; popular; everywhere; universal
 
go through; know well; to connect
go through; know well; to connect; to communicate; open
trad. (普通) 普 通
simp. #(普通) 普 通

Pronunciation


Adjective

普通

  1. ordinary; plain; average; nothing special; general
    普通員工/普通员工  ―  pǔtōng yuángōng  ―  ordinary employee; general staff
    我跟她真的只是普通朋友。 [MSC, trad. and simp.]
    Wǒ gēn tā zhēnde zhǐshì pǔtōng péngyǒu. [Pinyin]
    She and I are really just friends.
    他明明那麼普通卻又那麼自信。 [MSC, trad.]
    他明明那么普通却又那么自信。 [MSC, simp.]
    Tā míngmíng nàme pǔtōng què yòu nàme zìxìn. [Pinyin]
    He's clearly so ordinary, and yet so confident.
  2. common; universal; widespread

Synonyms

  • (ordinary):
  • (common):

Antonyms

Derived terms

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (普通):

Further reading

Japanese

Kanji in this term
普 通
ふ
Grade: S
つう
Grade: 2
goon

Etymology

/putuː/ → /fut͡suː/

From Middle Chinese compound 普通 (pʰuoX thuwng, literally “ordinary + through”). Compare modern Hakka phû-thûng, Cantonese pou2 tung1, Mandarin pǔtōng.

Pronunciation

  • (Tokyo) ふつう [fùtsúú] (Heiban – [0])[1]
  • IPA(key): [ɸɯ̟ᵝt͡sɨᵝː]

Adjective

普(ふ)通(つう) • (futsū) -na (adnominal 普(ふ)通(つう)な (futsū na), adverbial 普(ふ)通(つう)に (futsū ni))

  1. common, ordinary
  2. (informal, in the adverbial form 普通に) Used when straightforwardly describing one's opinion.
    普通(ふつう)に美味(おい)しい
    futsū ni oishī
    just delicious
    普通(ふつう)にきもい
    futsū ni kimoi
    plain gross

Usage notes

The form 普通の is replacing 普通な in modern Japanese. See the usage notes below.

Inflection

Noun

普(ふ)通(つう) • (futsū) 

  1. the common, the ordinary, nothing special

Usage notes

As a noun, it is usually used with the possessive particle の (​no), which makes it function as an adjective.

普通 is widely used for a variety of purposes. For example, to display modesty, one can use it respond to flattery (“oh, I’m nothing special”). Similarly, if a restaurant is okay, but not particularly noteworthy, it can be described as 普通.

普通 is also used in various conventional senses – a 普通列車 is a local train (as opposed to the 特急列車 or “special express train”), while an average student is a 普通の学生 (futsū no gakusei).

See also

References

  1. Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  • 2002, Ineko Kondō; Fumi Takano; Mary E Althaus; et. al., Shogakukan Progressive Japanese-English Dictionary, Third Edition, Tokyo: Shōgakukan, →ISBN.

Korean

Hanja in this term
普通

Noun

普通 • (botong) (hangeul 보통)

  1. Hanja form? of 보통 (“normality; usually”).

Vietnamese

chữ Hán Nôm in this term
普通

Adjective

普通

  1. chữ Hán form of phổ thông (“common, ordinary”).
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