一いち期ご

い

ち

ご

Meanings

A literary or formal noun meaning a person's entire life. In modern Japanese it is especially familiar inside fixed expressions such as 一期一会, while 一生 and 生涯 are more ordinary for everyday use.

「一いち期ご一いち会え」の一いち期ごは、「一いっ生しょうに一いち度ど」という意い味みで使つかわれる。
The 一期 in 一期一会 is used in the sense of "once in a lifetime."
彼かれは九きゅう十じゅう年ねんの一いち期ごを静しずかに終おえた。
He quietly came to the end of his ninety-year lifetime.

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Expressions

鱧はもも一いち期ご、海老えびも一いち期ごall lives are alike; we all live and die the same; a pike conger has one life, a shrimp does too

Kanji

一one, one radical (no.1)
期period, time, date

Related words

一いっ生しょうN3
一生 is the everyday word for someone's whole life, whereas 一期 read いちご is a literary, formal term rarely used outside fixed expressions.
生しょう涯がいN1
生涯 is a formal but still commonly used word for a lifetime, while 一期 read いちご is more archaic and mainly survives in set phrases like 一期一会.

Word family

一いち期ご一いち会えN1
once-in-a-lifetime encounter; treasuring every meeting as unique
一いち期ご末まつ代だい
this world and the next; eternity

Written forms

一いち期ごUsage99%
Attested kanji form and reading for the lifetime sense. Be aware that 一期 can also be read differently in other words or contexts.
いちごUsage1%

Etymology

A Sino-Japanese compound written with 一, "one," and 期, "period" or "term"; for this reading and sense it refers to the single span of a person's life. This is a component explanation rather than a detailed historical origin.