condolence; sympathy; mourning
Formal or literary term for expressing sympathy over someone's death. Commonly used in phrases like 弔意を示す or 弔意を表する.
I paid a condolence visit to express my sympathy to the bereaved family.
I sent flowers as a token of condolence.
Representatives from various countries expressed their condolences to the bereaved family.
The Prime Minister formally expressed condolences to the victims of the accident.
The ambassador visited to convey his condolences to the bereaved family.
お悔やみ is the everyday, spoken expression of condolence, while 弔意 is a more literary, written term used in official statements.
弔辞 is the actual eulogy or funeral speech read aloud, whereas 弔意 is the abstract feeling or expression of condolence itself.
Compound of 弔 (mourning, condolence) and 意 (mind, thought, meaning). The reading is on'yomi. The exact historical derivation is uncertain, but the word has been used in formal Japanese to express condolence.