てんで

て

ん

で

JLPTN1Freq.FrequencyTop 100,000

Meanings

Used with a negative predicate to mean 'not at all' or 'completely not'. Emphatic negative.

Rare affirmative use meaning 'very' or 'extremely'. Mostly found in older or dialectal speech; modern standard Japanese prefers とても or すごく.

〈事こと〉がてんで分わからないto have absolutely no idea about something
この数すう式しきの意い味みがてんで分わからない。
I have absolutely no idea what this equation means.
てんでだめだto be no good at all
彼かれの計けい画かくはてんでだめだった。
His plan was no good at all.
てんで話はなしにならないto be completely out of the question / not even worth discussing
そんな条じょう件けんではてんで話はなしにならない。
With conditions like that, it's completely out of the question.

全ぜん然ぜんN5sense 1
全然 is the everyday word for 'not at all' usable in any register, while てんで is a stronger, more colloquial intensifier with the same negative meaning.
とてもN4sense 2
とても is the standard modern word for 'very', which is the meaning てんで carries only in its rare, dialectal affirmative use.
全まったくN3sense 1
まったく is a neutral, widely used way to say 'completely (not)', whereas てんで sounds more blunt and casual.
さっぱりN3sense 1
さっぱり with a negative also means 'not at all', but it leans toward describing a lack of feeling or result, while てんで is a general emphatic negator.

The origin is uncertain. It may be a sound-symbolic (mimetic) formation, but no clear derivation is known.