“Daijoubu” is a well-known and frequently used Japanese word. It originates in buddism, meaning “a great ( or strong ) man.”
In kanji, Daijoubu is 大丈夫. 大 is “great” or ” big,” and 丈夫 means “a man.” These meanings may tell enough, but there is something I never want to miss about daijoubu.
What is daijoubu in English?
Daijoubu can mean:
1 ( Someone or something ) is OK.
2 Someone is fully recovered from sickness or injuries.
3 Someone will not let you down or dissappointed.
4 Someone is capable enough to do something.
In conversation, only “daijoubu” could sound blunt or too casual. It is normal to say only daijoubu to your family or close friends. But to someone you do not know well, saying the word with “desu” is a good idea.
If you want to ask if he or she is daijoubu or not, say it with raising the pitch at the end. To be more polite, put “desuka (ですか)? ” after it. To someone who looks sick, asking “daijoubu desuka” is no problem at all. But if you are talking about the capability of someone, the phrase implies something else (check no.4 above). Here is a sample conversation between A, B, and C.
A “I will leave it to C.”
B “Daijoubu desuka?”
C “Are you implying I’m not capable of it?”
You may have seen similar situations in Japanese anime or manga.
Sometimes daijoubu means ambiguous
Lately, daijoubu comes to get the meaning ” No thank you.” Personally, I do not like this. I feel uncomfortable with it. I want to know who started the usage and how.
A “Need an another drink?”
B “Daijoubu-desu (=meaning ‘no thank you’ ) “
A ???
When the very first time I heard it, I was puzzled and did not understand the meaning. “What the heck? What does this daijoubu mean?” Now I know this is a euphemism of “No thank you,” But I think the connotation of daijoubu is originally positive. Isn’t it ambiguous?
That’s why I do not use daijoubu this way.
