長ながらく

な

が

ら

く

Common wordJLPTN1Freq.FrequencyTop 20,000

Meanings

1

adverb

for a long time; long

Describes a state or action that has continued for a considerable period. Often used with verbs in the ～ている form or past tense.

長ながらくお待またせしてすみません。
I'm sorry to have kept you waiting for so long.
彼かれは長ながらく海かい外がいで暮くらして

い

た

。

He lived abroad for a long time.

Written forms

長ながらくUsage80%
Standard kanji spelling; the most common written form.
永ながらくUsage12%
Alternate kanji spelling using 永 (eternal); less common but still encountered.
ながらくUsage8%
Kana spelling; often used in informal writing or when the kanji is not needed.

Kanji

長long, leader, superior
永eternity, long, lengthy

Similar words

長ながい間あいだ
Both mean 'for a long time', but 長らく is slightly more formal and often used in written or polite contexts, while 長い間 is more common in everyday speech.
ずっと
ずっと emphasizes continuity or comparison ('all along', 'by far'), whereas 長らく simply states a long duration without the continuous or comparative nuance.

Etymology

Derived from the adjective 長い (long) with the adverbial suffix らく, which indicates a state or condition. The kanji 永 is sometimes used to emphasize the sense of 'eternal' or 'perpetual'.