手入れ
Meaning in Englishrepairs, maintenance
Animated kanji stroke order
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Word context
What it means
手入れ means the act or state of taking care of something to keep it in good condition. It encompasses cleaning, repairing, adjusting, and ongoing maintenance of objects, spaces, or one’s appearance, typically performed through deliberate, repeated actions.
Main meanings
- care and maintenance of equipment, clothing, or spaces
- grooming or tending gardens, plants, animals, or personal appearance
- the act or process of preparing or keeping something ready, often through routine attention
How to use it
Used as a noun that denotes care or maintenance; typically appears with をする to denote performing the action, and with の to describe the state of something being well-kept; in casual speech people say 手入れをする, while in formal writing it appears in similar constructions and compound phrases like 庭の手入れ or 道具の手入れ.
Variants and close terms
- お手入れ — polite/formal variant of 手入れ, romaji: o-teire
- 世話 — broader care or tending, romaji: sewa
- 整備 — mechanical maintenance or servicing, romaji: seibi
- 管理 — management or administration of assets, romaji: kanri
Composition
- 手 = hand
- 入れ = from 入れる, to put in / insert
- combined meaning: the act of putting one’s hands to a task to keep or prepare something, i.e., tending, maintenance, or grooming
Etymology
From 手 (hand) + 入れ (to put in). The compound forms a native kun-reading, merging hand with the idea of putting things in place, and standardizing as teire in modern Japanese.
Origin
手入れ appears in classical Japanese usage and became common in everyday life across periods, with particular emphasis in Edo-period housekeeping and garden care, reflecting a cultural value placed on order and upkeep.
Word class
Noun (名詞)