並みon a level with
Stuck straight onto a noun, 並み means "on that level": プロ並み is as good as a professional, 例年並み about the same as most years.
This high-school student throws a ball as fast as a professional.
It was handled as well as any veteran could have: you'd never think it was a newcomer.
This year's harvest is about the same as in an average year.
How to form it
Noun + 並み + に／の／だ
Nothing goes in between: プロ並み, never プロの並み. 並みに before a verb or adjective, 並みの before a noun, 並みだ to end.
- Before it
- A standard everyone knows: a kind of person (プロ, 大人), a class of thing (一流店), an average or another year (平年, 例年, 去年).
- After it
- What is being measured: skill (プロ並みの腕前), a price, the heat, how fast something is.
- Tone
- Neutral. A high standard makes it praise; a high price makes it a complaint.
- Where you'll meet it
- Conversation, reviews, business news, and the weather forecast: 平年並み, 真夏並みの暑さ.
In use
The prices were what a first-class restaurant charges, but the food was ordinary.
Today will be as hot as midsummer.
A weather forecast.
This week's workload was as heavy as in our busy season.
Words in their own right
Three everyday words are built with it, each with a meaning of its own.
人並みlike everyone else; ordinary
My pay isn't high, but I live about as well as anyone else.
月並みcommonplace; a cliché
It's a cliché, but health comes first.
A な-adjective.
軒並みacross the board; every one of them
Because of the typhoon, the afternoon flights were canceled across the board.
An adverb as it stands, mostly without に.
Close neighbours
と同じくらいN3
"About as … as", spelled out. It compares any two things; 並み wants a standard everyone knows.
My younger brother is about as tall as I am.
"Like": a likeness in how something looks or is done. 並み only measures a level.
He cried like a child.
Check yourself
1Which one fits?
彼女は
Choose an answer to see why.
2What is being said about the coffee?
この
Choose an answer to see why.
More detail
As a word by itself, 並 is "ordinary" or "regular": 並の人間, an ordinary person; 牛丼の並, a regular-size beef bowl.
In 町並み (a townscape) and 山並み (a mountain range) it is a row of things.
More sentences
Her specialist knowledge is on a level with a researcher's.
The finish is as good as a craftsman's: you wouldn't think it began as a hobby.
This small device processes data as fast as professional equipment.
This old car uses as much fuel as a big truck.
They didn't treat them as children, and asked them to take on an adult's share of responsibility.