頓

sudden; to stay in place, stop

Kanji 2081

Learn to say, "I didn’t have the slightest idea what they were talking about." That might be your experience if you hear とみに, やがて, ひたと, and ひたすら without having read this essay. It investigates those adverbs, as well as sudden movements and motionlessness (what a huge range!), wit and idiocy (another big range!), Dotonbori in Osaka, setbacks, tidiness, indifference, and much more.

Revision history:

Feb. 22, 2022: 

• p. 2, Etymology Box: Added a Henshall etymology and updated the Sears link.
• p. 17: Added a link to the Kanshudo games.

May 21, 2016: 

• p. 4: I had previously linked to a Wikipedia photo that no longer seems to exist on that site, so I removed the link and revised the relevant passage.
• p. 5: I changed the definitions of 頓挫 from "setback; at a standstill or impasse" to "setback; standstill, impasse."

Feb. 5, 2016: p. 1: Updated the link for the photo credit. 

Oct. 10, 2015: Originally published.