1.
at last; finally
After a long wait or process, something has happened.
漸く is an adverb expressing that something happened after a long time or with difficulty.
COMMON PATTERNS:
- 漸く終わった (finally finished)
- 漸く分かった (finally understood)
- 漸く手に入れた (finally obtained)
SIMILAR WORDS:
- 漸く vs. やっと: Very similar. やっと is more colloquial and often emphasizes relief or barely managing. 漸く can be slightly more literary.
- 漸く vs. ついに: ついに emphasizes the culmination of events ("at last, in the end"), often for dramatic or significant events. 漸く emphasizes the long process or difficulty.
- 漸く vs. とうとう: とうとう can have either positive or negative connotation for something that finally happened after a long process.
ORTHOGRAPHY:
Usually written in hiragana as ようやく. The kanji {漸} is rarely used in everyday writing.
Register: Neutral to slightly formal.