あらかじめ

あ

ら

か

じ

め

Common wordJLPTN2Freq.FrequencyTop 10,000

Meanings

1

adverb

beforehand; in advance; previously

usually written using kana alone

Standard adverb for doing something ahead of time or in preparation.

あらかじめ準じゅん備びしておいてください。
Please prepare in advance.

あらかじめ

電でん

話わ

し

て

から

行い

っ

た

ほう

が

いい

です

よ

。

You should call beforehand before going.

Written forms

あらかじめUsage89%
Usually written in kana; the kanji form 予め is also used but less common.
予あらかじめUsage11%
Kanji form; recognized but kana is preferred in modern usage.

Kanji

予beforehand, previous, myself

Similar words

前まえもって
Similar meaning 'in advance', but あらかじめ is slightly more formal and often used in written or planned contexts, while 前もって is common in spoken Japanese.

Etymology

Derived from classical Japanese, originally a combination of あら (prefix meaning 'before' or 'pre-') and かじめ (related to かじめる 'to begin'). The exact historical derivation is uncertain.