よう

Usage notes
Grammaticized is most likely to be spelled in hiragana.

Etymology 3
→ →  → (for type 2 (ichidan) and type 3 (irregular) verbs)

From Classical Japanese suppositional / volitional / hortative suffix.

The volitional verb suffix was originally. This regularly shifted to a nasalized, which then lost its nasalization and was reinterpreted as regular by roughly the  (1185–1333).

This suffix grammatically attached to the of the verb. Regular sound changes then gave rise to the modern ending, initially via fusion of the vowel sounds, and then by a reanalysis of the resulting fused -yō as the suffix to be added to the mizenkei stem. This reformulation as verb stem + suffix -yō started in the late (1336–1573) and continued through the  in 1603–1868).


 * verbs with mizenkei stems ending in -i:


 * verbs with mizenkei stems ending in -e:


 * The irregular verb underwent further changes.  The classical mizenkei stem ended in -e, and  in classical Japanese was pronounced more as she.  Around the same time that the fused shō was separating again into a verb stem + suffix, the mizenkei stem shifted to end in i:


 * The irregular verb has a mizenkei stem ending in -o.  This stem includes no front-vowel sound like  or  that might produce the  in, and here, the final -yō arose as a parallel construction with the above verb paradigms:

Meanwhile, for regular classical verbs, the mizenkei stem ends in -a. This ultimately fused with the -u suffix form to produce -ō, resulting in the modern regular.

Suffix

 * : to try to do; to attempt to do
 * : to be about to do; to be on the verge of doing
 * 1)  whether … or …
 * 2) * Blog｜細井厚子の万華鏡｜透明な花
 * : to try to do; to attempt to do
 * : to be about to do; to be on the verge of doing
 * 1)  whether … or …
 * 2) * Blog｜細井厚子の万華鏡｜透明な花
 * : to be about to do; to be on the verge of doing
 * 1)  whether … or …
 * 2) * Blog｜細井厚子の万華鏡｜透明な花
 * 1)  whether … or …
 * 2) * Blog｜細井厚子の万華鏡｜透明な花
 * 1)  whether … or …
 * 2) * Blog｜細井厚子の万華鏡｜透明な花

Usage notes
Attaches only to the of type 2 (ichidan) and type 3 (irregular) verbs.

The volitional form of type 1 (godan) verbs are formed with instead of, with further sound changes.

In traditional Japanese grammar, this is a, with the sole form as the  and the. Morphologically, this is an uninflecting inflectional suffix attaching to the stem of vowel-stem verbs.

Usage notes
Women or gentlemen generally use instead of. is masculine but gives a rude impression at times; is more graceful.

Etymology 5
of Standard Japanese.