間かん髪ぱつを入いれず

also: かんはつをいれず

Meanings

immediately; instantly; without a moment's delay

Literally 'without putting a hair's breadth in between'; used for actions that follow another with no gap in time. Often used in narrative or formal contexts.

彼かれは質しつ問もんに間かん髪ぱつを入いれず答こたえた。
He answered the question without a moment's delay.
間かん髪ぱつを入いれず反はん論ろんが返かえってきた。
A rebuttal came back instantly.

See all 7 example sentences ›

Kanji

間interval, space
髪hair of the head
入enter, insert
容contain, form, looks

Related words

すぐに
すぐに is a common, everyday word for 'immediately'. 間髪を入れず is more emphatic and literary, stressing zero gap.
即そく座ざに
即座に also means 'on the spot' or 'immediately', but 間髪を入れず emphasizes the absence of even a tiny pause.

Written forms

間髪を入れず
- かんぱつをいれず
  Standard kanji spelling. The reading かんぱつ is more common than かんはつ.
- かんはつをいれず
  Alternate reading かんはつ; less common but recognized.
間髪をいれず
- かんぱつをいれず
  Kana-mixed variant; いれず is often written in kana.
- かんはつをいれず
間髪を容れず
- かんぱつをいれず
  Alternate kanji for いれる; less common.
- かんはつをいれず
かんはつをいれず

Etymology

From the idiom 間髪を容れず (かんぱつをいれず), literally 'not even inserting a hair's breadth'. 間髪 (かんぱつ) means the space of a single hair, and 容れず is the negative of 容れる (いれる, 'to insert'). The phrase describes an action so immediate that not even a hair could be placed between events.