考える

Etymology
&#42; → →  →  (regular change for lower bigrade verbs) →  (semi-regular sound shift for the  phoneme: ) →  (semi-regular sound shift, collapsing  into ) →

From. First cited to the  of 720.

Ultimate derivation uncertain. Theories include:


 * Given the ancient kamugapu spelling, may be ka + mukau, where the ka is an unidentified prefixing element, or possibly, cognate with the in location determiners like , , and the mukau is , from the sense of  a thing or issue to thoroughly inspect it and think it over.  The shift from mukapu to mugapu may be an example of assimilation and lenition, where the preceding  softens the following.


 * Alternatively, may be derived from the on'yomi of kan for the character, plus some unknown element that was probably originally kapu, changing to gapu due to rendaku. The semantically relevant verbs with ancient readings of kapu, such as  all have to do with ideas of  or , suggesting a possible original meaning of to change one's perception. In addition, there are also obsolete readings of  and , giving further support for this etymology.

Verb

 * 1) think
 * 2) meditate
 * 3) consider
 * 4) reflect
 * 5) prepare
 * 6) make up one's mind
 * 7) expect
 * 8) imagine
 * 9) contrive
 * 1) make up one's mind
 * 2) expect
 * 3) imagine
 * 4) contrive
 * 1) contrive
 * 1) contrive

Usage notes
While both and  can be used to mean to, kangaeru implies more analytic and objective thought, whereas omou may include more emotional and subjective overtones.

Derived terms

 * : thought