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手遅れ (ておくれ, teokure) Japanese meaning: too late | Kotomora
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By the time we arrived at the hospital, it was already too late.
Is it too late to start studying now?
Usage patterns 〈 事こと 〉 が 手て 遅おく れになる for a situation to become too late to fix
The illness was discovered too late to treat.
もう 手て 遅おく れだ it's already too late (nothing can be done now)
Apologizing now won't help—it's already too late.
手て 遅おく れになる 前まえ に 〈 動どう 詞し 〉 to do something before it's too late
I went to the hospital right away, before it was too late.
Related words 後の祭り is a set idiom meaning 'too late, after the fact' with a slightly more resigned, proverbial tone, while 手遅れ is a plain noun describing a situation where action is no longer effective.
遅い is a general adjective for 'late' or 'slow', while 手遅れ specifically means a point where action is futile because it's too late.
Don't confuse with 遅刻 means being late for an appointment or event (e.g. school, a meeting), whereas 手遅れ means a point has passed where action can still help, often in serious or medical contexts.
Written forms 手て 遅おく れ Usage 87%
Standard kanji spelling; high priority.
手て おくれ Usage 11%
search-only kanji form
Search-only kanji form.
手て 後おく れ Usage 2%
rarely-used kanji form
Rarely used kanji form.
Etymology Compound of 手 (hand, means) and 遅れ (delay, lateness), literally 'hand delay', implying that one's means or actions are too late to be effective.
