nearly; almost; eight or nine parts out of ten
Rare literary adverb meaning 'almost entirely' or 'for the most part'. Literally 'eight or nine parts out of ten'. Modern Japanese normally uses ほとんど, ほぼ, or 九分通り instead.
See also: 九分通り
In old documents, expressions like 'it was nearly finished' can be found.
Compound of 八 (eight), 九 (nine), and 分 (part), literally 'eight or nine parts out of ten'. The exact historical derivation is uncertain, but it follows a common pattern of using numbers to express approximate proportions.