Word
心当たり
Meaning in Englishhaving some knowledge of, happening to know
Animated kanji stroke order
Sentence
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Word context
What it means
心当たり means having knowledge or awareness about a person or matter, often implying memory, recognition, or a usable basis for a response.
Main meanings
- awareness or recollection about a person, event, or matter; a sense that something is familiar
- a subtle impression that something is true or plausible based on partial information
- an intuition about what happened or what is being referred to
How to use it
- Used with ある or ない to express that you have or do not have knowledge, memory, or awareness about something
- The polite form is 心当たりがございます / 心当たりがありません (kokoroatari ga gozaimasu / arimasen) for formal contexts
- Common in casual conversations, journalism, and everyday speech to explain memory or likelihood
Variants and close terms
- 覚えがある (obo e ga aru) - memory or recall
- 覚えがない (obo e ga nai) - no memory or recall
- 連想する (rensou suru) - to recall by association
Composition
- 心: heart, mind
- 当たり: hitting, coming to mind, being applicable
Word class
Noun (名詞) with Japanese usage: used with ある/ない
Word
Related words by kanji and components
N3
関心
kanshin
interest, concern, attention
N3
決心
kesshin
determination, resolution, firm decision
N3
見当
kentou
estimate, guess, rough idea
N3
用心
youjin
care, caution, precaution
N3
当り
atari
hit, success, impact, vicinity
N3
相当
soutou
considerable, fairly, equivalent
N3
担当
tantou
being in charge, responsibility
N3
中心
chuushin
center, core, main point
N3
当時
touji
at that time, in those days (same as そのころ)
Kanji