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見知らぬ (みしらぬ) Japanese meaning | Kotomora
Common word JLPT N2 Freq. Frequency Top 20,000 Meanings 1
pre-noun adjectival
strange ; unfamiliar ; unknown
Pre-noun adjectival (rentaishi) meaning 'not known by sight'; used for people, places, or things one has never seen before. Often carries a nuance of slight unease or foreignness.
彼かれ
は
見み
知し
ら
ぬ
土と
地ち
で
道みち
に
迷まよ
っ
た
。
He got lost in an unfamiliar town.
Similar words 知し らない 知らない is a general 'don't know' (information, facts, people), while 見知らぬ specifically means 'never seen before' and is used only before nouns.
未み 知ち 未知 is a noun meaning 'unknown' in a broader, often abstract or scientific sense, while 見知らぬ is a pre-noun adjective for concrete, visual unfamiliarity.
Etymology Compound of 見 (mi, 'see') + 知らぬ (shiranu, classical negative of 知る 'know'). Literally 'not know by seeing', it fossilized as a pre-noun adjectival.
