Last week I mentioned that an email from Japan had left me scratching my head about one word. Actually, more than one word in the letter had that effect! The following sentences also gave me pause:

社員のリストラとか、良くない景況の話ばかりです。それでも人々は健気に精一杯前を向いて生きています。
Shain no risutora toka, yokunai keikyō no hanashi bakari desu. Soredemo hitobito wa kenage ni seiippai mae o muite ikite imasu.
With downsizing and so forth, all anybody talks about is the bad economic outlook. Nevertheless, people are bravely doing all they can to look ahead and move forward.

There are so many things to explore in this passage that it’s hard to know where to begin! So I’ll wrestle with each thing in order.

First, a breakdown of the tricky words in the initial sentence:

社員のリストラとか、良くない景況の話ばかりです。
Shain no risutora toka, yokunai keikyō no hanashi bakari desu.
With downsizing and so forth, all anybody talks about is the bad economic outlook.

社員 (shain: employee)     company + employee
リストラ (risutora: (corporate) restructuring, downsizing)

This is an abbreviated form of “restructuring.”

良くない (yokunai: not good)
景況 (keikyō: situation; business climate; outlook)
     conditions + conditions

On 景況 …

話 (hanashi: talk)
ばかり (bakari: only, nothing but)

Now let’s look at the next sentence, because that one caught my attention to a much greater degree. Here it is again, along with a breakdown:

それでも人々は健気に精一杯前を向いて生きています。
Soredemo hitobito wa kenage ni seiippai mae o muite ikite imasu.
Nevertheless, people are bravely doing all they can to look ahead and move forward.

それでも (soredemo: nevertheless)
人々 (hitobito: people)

The second character here is the repetition kanji.

健気 (kenage: brave, admirable)     health + spirit

On the Yomi of 健気 …

精一杯 (seiippai: with all one’s might)
     vitality + a lot (last 2 chars.)

More on this in a moment.

前 (mae: before)
向 (mu(ku): to face)
生 (i(kiru): to live)

The moment has arrived. Let’s focus on this term:

精一杯 (seiippai: with all one’s might)
     vitality + a lot (last 2 chars.)

As you can see, the first kanji, 精 (SEI), means “vitality.”

Where Else Have I Seen 精? …

Obviously, 一 means “one.” Nothing too complicated there! And for an exploration of 杯, see the link.

On 杯 …

These last two kanji combine in the following expression:

一杯 (ippai: counter for drinks; glassful, spoonful)

As I’m a tea addict, this sample sentence is perhaps the most important phrase I could hope to know:

お茶を一杯ください。
Ocha o ippai kudasai.

Please give me a cup of tea.

茶 (cha: tea)

Further Counting with 一杯 …

But that’s not the only meaning of 一杯. Although it’s strange that just one glassful or one drink could create a sense of abundance, we also find this:

一杯 (ippai: a lot, full, all)

お腹が一杯です。
Onaka ga ippai desu.
I’ve had enough (to eat).
(The literal meaning: My stomach is full.)

腹 (naka: stomach)

So which sense applies in 精一杯? Thinking about the various meanings of drinks and vitality, I initially wondered if “with all one’s might” means that you feel as if you’ve drunk a glassful of vitality. And what would you have drunk to feel that way? Alcohol gives courage, but tea gives energy.

I asked a native speaker whether he heard 精一杯 as being full of alcohol or tea … or no liquid at all. He said, “I’m not sure about the etymology (in an academic manner) but I associate it with one’s whole body being ‘full of spirit.'”

Ah, spirit. That takes my mind directly to “spirits,” which means alcohol!

But no, of course he meant something spiritual and abstract, maybe sacred. And even if tea is sacred to me, I should probably drop the idea that 精一杯 has anything to do with drinks. It breaks down most logically as vitality + a lot. You’ll get a better sense of the meaning from the sample sentences at the link.

Sample Sentences with 精一杯 …

Time for your Verbal Logic Quiz! Hope you do it 精一杯.

Verbal Logic Quiz …