adverb, noun which may take the genitive case particle 'no'
barely; just; narrowly; with difficulty
Describes a situation where one barely manages to do something, often with a sense of scraping by or just meeting a minimum requirement. Mimetic word.
Before payday, I'm always living hand-to-mouth.
I barely made the deadline.
Hiragana spelling is also used.
Mimetic word; the exact derivation is uncertain, but the reduplicated form suggests a sense of tightness or scraping.