にしてonly at, even at; at once A and B
Written, with two unrelated jobs. After an age, a count or a stage, it marvels at how early or late something happened: "at just fifteen", "only on the third try". Between two descriptions of one person or thing: "at once A and B".
at just
At just fifteen, she won an international competition.
only at
Only on the third attempt did they finally succeed in synthesizing the new drug.
at once A and B
He is both a doctor and a writer.
Only at, even at
Age, count, stage or person + にして + what happened
Often with 初めて, ようやく, やっと or なお.
At once A and B
Noun + にして + noun
Both describe the same person or thing. A な-adjective comes without its な: 単純にして.
Only at, even at
It lives in news stories, profiles and sports pages. English has no single word for it, so the translation moves between "at just", "only", "not until" and "even".
In only its fifth year of business, the company entered an overseas market for the first time.
Early.
It was not until the third year of the investigation that the full picture of the case emerged.
Late.
Even at eighty, my grandfather is still a practicing doctor.
With なお: even at that age, still.
After a person
After a person, the point is the kind of person it takes: "only someone like that", or "even someone like that".
Only a craftsman with years of training can produce a flavor like this.
If even he, bright as he is, can't solve the problem, there is no way I can.
Like parent, like child.
A saying: it takes a parent like that to have a child like that.
At once A and B
It is で in formal dress, at home in a profile, a review or a speech, and the sentence often ends in でもある or であり. When the two descriptions pull against each other, English says "yet".
She is both a researcher and an entrepreneur, and is working to put medical technology into practical use.
This novel is at once a family story and the record of an era.
This theory is simple yet profound.
What people say instead
| In print | In ordinary Japanese |
|---|---|
| 十五歳にして優勝した | 十五歳で |
| 三度目にしてようやく | 三回目で |
| 医師にして作家 | 医師で、 |
で only states the age or the count. To marvel at it, people add a word: わずか十五歳で, まだ十五歳なのに.
Fixed words
A handful are just vocabulary: 一瞬にして (in an instant), 一夜にして (overnight), 幸いにして (fortunately), 生まれながらにして (from birth), 今にして思えば (looking back now).
The news spread around the world in an instant.
Rome was not built in a day.
The same にして of time: in a single day.
Close neighbours
にしてはN3
One kana more, and a different point: "for a …", a result measured against what the fact would lead you to expect.
This child is very calm for a ten-year-old.
ながらに（して）N1
生まれながらにして and 居ながらにして belong to this ながら, "staying just as it is".
She was born with an excellent ear for pitch.
Check yourself
1In which sentence is にして "at once A and B"?
Choose an answer to see why.
2What does this say?
これは、
Choose an answer to see why.
More sentences
At just sixteen, the player won the highest-ranking tournament.
It took half a century from its introduction for this system to get its first full review.
Stable results were finally obtained on the hundredth trial.
In the hundredth year since its port opened, the town's population began to fall for the first time.
He was both a translator and an editor, and introduced a great deal of foreign literature to Japan.
This building is simple yet majestic, and gives visitors a profound sense of stillness.
The new building is both a library and a hub for the local community.