What does “yoroshiku” mean in Japanese?
Honestly speaking, “yoroshiku” has a lot of meanings: treat me well, be kind to me, take care of me, nice to meet you, and the like. Perhaps, the variety of the meanings would be confusing. Once Japanese learners know the origin of this word, however, they can use it in conversation without any confusion. In this blog post, therefore, I will explain this word in detail based on its origin. And also, I will explain how to use it through example sentences. Let’s get started!
Contents
Definition and meanings of “yoroshiku”
Let me start with the definition and meanings of “yoroshiku”.
- yoroshiku – 宜しく (よろしく) : an adverb, but often used as an individual phrase to mean ‘treat me well’, ‘be kind to me’, ‘take care of me’, ‘nice to meet you’, and the like in Japanese.
It has a lot of meanings, so would fit various situations: when we ask someone to do something; when we ask someone to take care of us; when we introduce ourselves to someone. To understand why this can happen, let me explain the origin of this phrase a bit.
Origin of “yoroshiku”
The phrase, “yoroshiku”, was derived from the adjective, “yoroshi”, which means ‘not bad’ in the old Japanese language. Originally, Japanese people used the adjective to describe something not bad. Gradually, however, they started to use it to describe something acceptable; they thought that “not bad” and “acceptable” were more or less the same. By further extension, they started to use “yoroshi” as a word to accept something or even someone. After the use of “yoroshi” was extended, the role of its conjugation, “yoroshiku”, was changed as well. People started to use it to ask for acceptance. This is the very beginning of the modern usage of “yoroshiku” and the reason it can work in various situations to ask for acceptance.
So far, I’ve explained the definition and meanings of “yoroshiku” and its origin. Next, let me explain how to use it through the example sentences below.
Example #1: how to use “yoroshiku” in Japanese
watashi wa Haru desu. yoroshiku. – 私はハルです。宜しく。 (わたしははるです。よろしく。)
I’m Haru. Nice to meet you.
Below are the new words used in the example sentence.
- watashi – 私 (わたし) : a pronoun meaning ‘I’ in Japanese.
- wa – は : a binding particle working as a case marker or topic marker. In the example, this works after “watashi” to make the subject in the first sentence.
- Haru – ハル (はる) : person’s name. This is a noun.
- desu – です : an auxiliary verb used after a noun or adjective to make it sound polite. Probably this is well known as a part of Japanese desu form. In the example, this works after “Haru” to make it sound polite.
This is a typical usage of “yoroshiku”. In this example, it works as a part of the self-introduction. It has been translated as “nice to meet you”, but we can understand its meaning as ‘please be kind to me’, ‘please take care of me’, ‘please treat me well’, or such as well. It is a very general request for acceptance, so sometimes cannot be translated easily.
Example #2: another usage of “yoroshiku”
kare wa 「neko wo yoroshiku」 to it ta – 彼は「猫を宜しく」と言った (かれは「ねこをよろしく」といった)
He said “please take care of my cat.”
Below are the new words used in the example sentence.
- kare – 彼 (かれ) : a pronoun meaning ‘he’ in Japanese.
- neko – 猫 (ねこ) : a noun meaning ‘cat’ in Japanese. This can also work as a plural noun. Learn more about Japanese plural.
- wo – を : a case particle used to make the object word in a sentence. In the example, this is used after “neko” to make the object word in the clause.
- to – と : a case particle working as a quote marker. In the example, this works after “neko wo yoroshiku” to indicate what “kare” said.
- it – 言っ (いっ) : one conjugation of the verb, “iu”, which means ‘to say’ in Japanese. In the example, it has been conjugated for the better connection with its following word.
- ta – た : an auxiliary verb used after a verb, adjective, or auxiliary verb to make its past tense form. In the example, this is used after “it” to make its past tense form, “it ta”.
This is another typical usage of “yoroshiku”. In this example, it works as a part of the phrase which means ‘please take care of my cat’. “Kare” asked the listener to accept his cat with that phrase.
Summary
In this blog post, I’ve explained the definition and meanings of “yoroshiku” and its origin. And also, I’ve explained how to use it through the example sentences. Let me summarize them as follows.
- yoroshiku – 宜しく (よろしく) : an adverb, but often used as an individual phrase to mean ‘treat me well’, ‘be kind to me’, ‘take care of me’, ‘nice to meet you’, and the like in Japanese. This has multiple meanings and would fit various situations, but native speakers basically use it conveniently as a phrase asking for acceptance.
Hope my explanations are understandable and helpful for Japanese learners.
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