Adjective Stem Nominalization in Japanese: ～さ vs. ～み

Adjective stem nominalization in Japanese turns an adjective into a noun by attaching ～さ or ～み to the stem (語幹). The choice between the two carries most of the meaning.¹² ～さ is the productive N4 default; ～み is a restricted N3 set that you have to memorize stem by stem.³⁴

Overview

Two suffixes, one job, very different reach

Both ～さ and ～み attach to an adjective stem and produce a noun.¹² Their reach is different. ～さ is fully productive on almost every い-adjective and な-adjective, including newly coined and compound stems. ～み is locked to a closed roster, with no underlying rule for which adjectives accept it.⁵⁶²⁷

Grammar references describe the semantic split consistently. ～さ produces objective and measurable nouns; ～み produces nouns of a more personal, internally felt quality.¹² Maggie Sensei sharpens this further: ～さ is for things that are measurable, or for objectively indicating the degree of a state. ～み describes a state from a subjective point of view.⁸

富士山ふじさんの高たかさは3776メートルです。⁶
"Mount Fuji's height is 3,776 metres."

高たかみを目指めざして努力どりょくする。⁹
"I work hard, aiming for the heights."

The default is always ～さ when in doubt

If a stem is not in the ～み roster, ～み is ungrammatical and ～さ is the only option.⁵⁷ Treat ～み as vocabulary to memorize, not a rule to apply.

JLPT level and register

Bunpro tags ～さ as N4. It reads as neutral register: it shows up in specifications, scientific writing, and JLPT reading passages as readily as in everyday speech.³¹⁶ ～み sits at N3 and carries a warmer, subjective, more literary flavour. It dominates food, taste, and gravitas vocabulary.⁴²⁸

The productivity gap explains the level order. The productive default comes first; the lexicalized set comes later, once the learner has enough vocabulary to recognize which stems take it.³⁴

Wakamono Kotoba is not the standard variety

Maggie Sensei notes that young speakers create new words by attaching ～み to anything. Seraku (2021) documents this as a Wakamono Kotoba (youth language) productivity expansion that extends ～み to verbs, nouns, pronouns, phrases, and onomatopoeia in casual speech.⁸¹⁰ In standard written Japanese, the suffix is still restricted to the closed adjective roster.

What "nominalization" means here

～さ and ～み are stem-plus-suffix nominalizers: they turn an adjective stem into a derived noun expressing the property as an entity, broadly similar to English "-ness."¹¹³ This is different from the clause nominalizers の and こと, which take a sentence and turn it into a noun phrase.

The same form slot, the adjective 語幹 (stem), feeds the く-form, the te-form, the adverbial, and these nominalizations. Recognizing the stem connects these operations and lines the adjective derivations up with the verb-stem (連用形) nominalizations seen on the verb side of the grammar.¹¹

Form: how to attach ～さ and ～み

～さ on い-adjectives

Drop the final い and add さ to the stem.¹ This rule has no productivity exceptions: 高い → 高さ, 重い → 重さ, 長い → 長さ, 暑い → 暑さ, 美しい → 美しさ, 甘い → 甘さ.¹³

The one notable irregular is いい (the colloquial form of よい). It does not produce ×いさ. It takes よさ, built on the よ-stem used by the adjective's non-attributive forms.⁶¹²

いい takes よさ, not いさ

The irregular pattern follows the older よい stem. Bunpro lists "いい becomes よさ (goodness)" as the standout irregular.⁶¹²

この味あじのよさは説明せつめいできない。¹²
"I can't explain how good this flavour is."

この鞄かばんの重おもさを測はかりました。¹
"I measured the weight of this bag."

テストの難むずかしさを予想よそうする。¹
"I can imagine how difficult the test is."

～さ on な-adjectives

Drop the な and add さ directly to the bare stem.¹³ 便利 → 便利さ, 静か → 静かさ, きれい → きれいさ, 元気 → 元気さ, 複雑 → 複雑さ.¹³⁶

The Wikipedia adjectives entry frames this from the other side: な-adjectives must include the nominalizing suffix さ to act as nouns, broadly similar to English "-ness."¹¹ In other words, ～さ is the standard way to nominalize a な-adjective, and Sino-Japanese / compound stems take it freely.

この機械きかいの便利べんりさに驚おどろいた。³
"I was surprised at how convenient this machine is."

部屋へやの静しずかさが落おち着つく。⁶
"The quietness of the room is calming."

～み on い-adjectives

Drop the final い and add み.² The mechanics are identical to ～さ, but the set is closed. There is no productive rule for which adjectives accept it.²⁷

The textbook roster is small enough to learn by heart: 厚い→厚み, 赤い→赤み, 青い→青み, 悲しい→悲しみ, 痛い→痛み, 暖かい→暖かみ, うまい→うまみ, 甘い→甘み, 重い→重み, 深い→深み, 高い→高み, 弱い→弱み, 強い→強み, 苦しい→苦しみ, 楽しい→楽しみ, 親しい→親しみ.⁷²

Common miscoinings to avoid: ×長み, ×白み, ×黒み, ×うれしみ, ×涼しみ, ×おいしみ.⁷

言葉ことばの重おもみを感かんじた。¹³
"I felt the weight of the words."

議論ぎろんに深ふかみが出でてきた。¹⁴
"The discussion has started to gain depth."

このトマトには甘あまみがある。¹⁵
"These tomatoes have sweetness to them."

～み on な-adjectives

The な-adjective + み combination is essentially closed, and the textbook holdouts cited in Tofugu's coverage are 真剣み, 新鮮み, and 重厚み.² When it does occur, the rule mirrors the ～さ case: drop the な, add み (新鮮な → 新鮮み).²

Treat any な-adjective + み as memorized vocabulary rather than a productive option.¹¹³ The default nominalizer for な-adjectives is ～さ.

この映画えいがには真剣しんけんみが足たりない。²
"This film lacks a sense of seriousness."

新鮮しんせんみのある提案ていあんだ。²
"It's a proposal with a fresh feel to it."

Form summary table

The table below lines up the textbook ～さ and ～み forms for the core adjectives covered above. A bracketed cross, (×), means the form is not standard.

Adjective	～さ form	～み form	Notes
高い (tall)	高さ	高み	Both attested; sharp semantic split19
重い (heavy)	重さ	重み	Both attested1316
甘い (sweet)	甘さ	甘み	Both attested; frozen in food writing815
深い (deep)	深さ	深み	Both attested1417
楽しい (fun)	楽しさ	楽しみ	Both attested; 楽しみ pairs with verb 楽しむ181920
弱い (weak)	弱さ	弱み	Both attested2122
強い (strong)	強さ	強み	Both attested7
暖かい (warm)	暖かさ	暖かみ	Both attested7
厚い (thick)	厚さ	厚み	Both attested5
痛い (painful)	痛さ	痛み	Both attested; 痛み pairs with verb 痛む4
面白い (interesting)	面白さ	面白み	面白み largely fixed in 面白みがない4
暑い (hot)	暑さ	(×)	No standard ×暑み5
大きい (big)	大きさ	(×)	No standard ×大きみ5
静か (quiet, な)	静かさ	(×)	な-adjective default is ～さ6
便利 (convenient, な)	便利さ	(×)	な-adjective default is ～さ3
新鮮 (fresh, な)	新鮮さ	新鮮み	な-adjective + み exists but is closed2

～さ: the objective, measurable abstraction

Reading 1: a measurable dimension

～さ expresses amounts that are objectively measurable: weight, height, depth, area, temperature.¹ The noun pairs naturally with a standard unit: 高さ in metres, 重さ in kilograms, 長さ in metres, 広さ in square metres, 寒さ as a temperature reading.¹³

The shorthand test is simple: if you can put a number on it, ～さ fits.

富士山ふじさんの高たかさは3776メートルです。⁶
"Mount Fuji's height is 3,776 metres."

かばんの重おもさは100キロまでです。⁶
"The bag's weight limit is 100 kg."

部屋へやの広ひろさが全然ぜんぜん足たりない。⁶
"The room's size isn't anywhere near enough."

Reading 2: the degree or extent of a property

～さ also nominalizes properties that are not measured with a number. It presents them as a degree or extent. Even without a unit, the resulting noun creates a sense that the quality is objective or externally true.¹ 難しさ, 大切さ, 便利さ, 美しさ are the standard examples.¹³

テストの難むずかしさを予想よそうする。¹
"I can imagine how difficult the test is."

家族かぞくの大切たいせつさを忘わすれない。³
"I won't forget how important family is."

スポーツの楽たのしさを多おおくの人ひとに知しってほしい。²⁰
"I want many people to know how fun sports are."

Why ～さ is fully productive

～さ applies more broadly overall and is the default when in doubt.⁶ It attaches freely to coined and compound stems: 使いやすさ, 読みにくさ, 食べやすさ, 使いづらさ.⁵ These compound-stem forms are an especially clear diagnostic: ～さ accepts them, while ～み rejects them outright (×食べやすみ, ×読みにくみ are ungrammatical).⁵

Wikipedia's gloss of ～さ as broadly similar to English "-ness" captures the productivity claim plainly: in principle, any adjective stem can take it.¹¹

～さ in technical and academic prose

Bunpro's reference examples for ～さ come from neutral or technical registers: physical weight, physical dimensions, and statistically measurable quality.³ Tofugu makes the register claim directly: nouns in ～さ feel more objective and measurable than their ～み counterparts.¹

For specifications, scientific writing, and JLPT reading passages, ～さ is the safe choice and the expected register.

～み: the subjective, experiential, lexicalized nominalization

Reading 1: a felt quality, not a measurement

Tofugu frames ～み as naming qualities or states that are not objectively measurable. They appear as subjective perspectives and metaphorical ideas.² The dictionary entries back this up sense by sense.

• 重み as "gravitas one senses": 大辞泉 sense 2 is 「人や物事から受ける重厚で厳粛な感じ」 ("the heavy, solemn impression received from a person or matter"), with the example 「伝統の重み」.¹³
• 深み as "depth one perceives": 大辞泉 sense 3 is 「表面だけではわからない奥深い味わい」 ("an unfathomable flavour that cannot be grasped from the surface alone"), with the example 「深みのある味」.¹⁴
• 甘み as "sweet taste one experiences": 大辞泉 sense 1 is 「甘い味。甘さの程度。甘さ」, with the example 「この梨は甘みがある」.¹⁵

言葉ことばの重おもみを感かんじた。¹³
"I felt the weight of the words."

深ふかみのある味あじだ。¹⁴
"It has a flavour with depth."

この梨なしには甘あまみがある。¹⁵
"This pear has sweetness to it."

Reading 2: a location or vantage point

～み also produces concrete place or point nouns from a small set of stems. 大辞泉 lists for 深み the sense 「川などの深い所」 ("a deep place such as in a river"), with the example 「深みにはまる」.¹⁴ For 高み, 大辞泉 records the literal-place reading inside the idiom 「高みの見物」. It is glossed as watching how things unfold from a third party's standpoint out of mere curiosity. The underlying image is the elevated vantage from which one observes.⁹²³

For 弱み, 大辞泉 sense 2 is 「弱いところ、劣っている点。弱点」 with examples 「相手の弱みを握る」 and 「人の弱みにつけこむ」. 強み functions in the same register as the strong-point counterpart.²¹⁷ The place-or-point reading belongs only to ～み. The matching ～さ form (高さ, 深さ, 弱さ) names a dimension or a degree, never a spot.

高たかみの見物けんぶつを決きめ込こむ。⁹
"I'm settling in to watch from the sidelines."

相手あいての弱よわみを握にぎっている。²¹
"I've got something on my opponent."

深ふかみにはまって抜ぬけ出だせない。¹⁴
"I'm in too deep to get out."

Reading 3: lexicalized abstract nouns close to ～む verbs

A useful heuristic inside the closed ～み set is the verb pair. Tofugu states the link directly: many emotion-based ～み nouns have a verb equivalent that ends in む. The nouns are thought to have originated from the verb form rather than from the adjective form.² The standard pairings all sit on a shared classical adjective stem.

• 楽しい / 楽しむ / 楽しみ. 楽しみ is glossed in 大辞泉 as 「たのしいと感じること。また、たのしむ物事」 (the feeling of being happy; things one enjoys); 楽しむ is the matching verb 「たのしいと感じる」.¹⁸¹⁹
• 悲しい / 悲しむ / 悲しみ. Both noun and verb derive from the same adjective stem; this is the central pattern in 加藤恵梨's study of emotion ～さ / ～み nouns.²⁴
• 苦しい / 苦しむ / 苦しみ. Same pattern.²⁴⁷
• 痛い / 痛む / 痛み. Same pattern, the noun extending from physical pain into emotional pain.⁴⁷

The three-way pattern is a strong predictor inside the closed roster. Where a ～む verb exists, the ～み noun is almost always available, and the noun's reading tilts toward the emotion or sensation rather than its degree.

週末しゅうまつが楽たのしみです。¹⁸
"I'm looking forward to the weekend."

人ひとの痛いたみがわかる人間にんげんになろう。⁴
"Let's become people who understand others' pain."

悲かなしみを経験けいけんして人ひとは強つよくなる。⁷
"People grow stronger by experiencing sadness."

Why ～み is restricted

～み is described as a closed nominalizer in modern standard Japanese. It can only pair with a limited number of adjectives, and the set is small enough that it must be memorized rather than derived.²⁷ Seraku (2021) gives historical context for the current restriction: in the standard variety, the suffix nominalizes adjective stems. The productivity learners encounter online (尊み, つらみ, しんどみ) is a Wakamono Kotoba extension rather than standard grammar.¹⁰

The practical consequence for a learner is the same either way: the textbook roster is the safe set, and anything outside it should be checked against a dictionary before reaching for it in writing.

Minimal pairs: ～さ vs ～み head to head

高さ vs 高み

高さ names a measurable height in metres or other units.¹⁸ 高み names an elevated vantage, literal or metaphorical, and the lexicalized heights one aims for.⁹ Maggie Sensei's gloss is the cleanest split available: 高さ measurable, 高み aspirational.⁸

富士山ふじさんの高たかさは3776メートルです。⁶
"Mount Fuji's height is 3,776 metres."

彼かれは常つねに高たかみを目指めざしている。⁹
"He is always aiming for the heights."

重さ vs 重み

重さ names physical weight in kilograms.¹⁸ 重み names the felt gravitas of a word, a decision, a presence, or a tradition. 大辞泉 sense 2 is 「人や物事から受ける重厚で厳粛な感じ」, with the example 「伝統の重み」.¹³ 大辞泉 also records 「責任の重み」 as the felt burden of responsibility, and a narrow technical sense for 連歌 and 俳諧 composition style.¹³

雪ゆきの重おもみで屋根やねがつぶれた。¹³
"The roof collapsed under the weight of the snow."

社長しゃちょうとしての重おもみをつける。¹³
"He's developing the gravitas of a company president."

このかばんの重おもさを測はかってください。³
"Please weigh this bag."

甘さ vs 甘み

甘さ names sweetness as a measurable property (砂糖の甘さ). It also has the figurative softness or leniency reading (考えの甘さ, the looseness of one's reasoning).⁸ 甘み names the sweet taste one experiences: 大辞泉 sense 1 is 「甘い味。甘さの程度。甘さ」, with the example 「この梨は甘みがある」.¹⁵ In food and taste writing, 甘み is frequently the fixed choice.²

砂糖さとうの甘あまさを少すこし抑おさえたい。⁸
"I want to dial down the sweetness from the sugar a bit."

このトマトには甘あまみがある。¹⁵
"These tomatoes have sweetness to them."

楽しさ vs 楽しみ

楽しさ names the abstract degree or quality of fun.²⁰ 楽しみ names an anticipated pleasure or a hobby. 大辞泉 lists 「たのしいと感じること。また、たのしむ物事。趣味や娯楽」 with examples such as 「登山の楽しみを知る」 and 「釣りが唯一の楽しみです」, plus the anticipatory sense 「たのしいこととして期待すること」.¹⁸ The verb 楽しむ shares the same stem.¹⁹

仕事しごとのあとの一杯いっぱいが唯一ゆいいつの楽たのしみです。²⁰
"A drink after work is my only pleasure."

スポーツの楽たのしさを多おおくの人ひとに知しってほしい。²⁰
"I want many people to know how fun sports are."

深さ vs 深み

深さ names depth as a measurable dimension.¹⁴ 深み spans three felt or metaphorical readings: 大辞泉 sense 3 「表面だけではわからない奥深い味わい」 ("a depth of flavour"), sense 2 「川などの深い所」 (a literal deep place, idiomatic in 深みにはまる), and sense 4 「深入りして身動きのとれない状態」 (a state one cannot get out of).¹⁴

湖みずうみの深ふかさを測はかる。¹⁴
"I measure the depth of the lake."

議論ぎろんに深ふかみが出でてきた。¹⁴
"The discussion has started to gain depth."

Decision flow

The questions below decide the suffix in almost every case the textbooks cover.

When the stem is not in the roster, ～み is ungrammatical and ～さ is the only option.⁵⁷

Nuance and usage contexts

Food, drink, and taste vocabulary

～み dominates taste vocabulary: 甘み, 旨み, 苦み, 渋み, 酸味 are the routine entries.²⁴ In culinary contexts, the kanji 味 (flavour) is often written in place of the hiragana み (旨味, 辛味, 甘味). This is partly an orthographic convention and partly a Sino-Japanese overlay.²

渋味しぶみがある食たべ物ものは苦手にがてだ。⁴
"I'm not a fan of food with an astringent taste."

このスープは魚さかなのうま味みが感かんじられるね。⁴
"You can taste the fish's umami in this soup, can't you."

Sports, business, and gravitas talk

強み, 弱み, 重み, 深み are idiomatic in business and strategy contexts, where they are treated as fixed vocabulary.²¹¹³ 強さ and 弱さ are perfectly grammatical, but they read as the degree of strength or weakness, not as a strategic strong point.²¹ 大辞泉 glosses 弱み with examples that show the idiomatic register: 「弱みをみせる」, 「相手の弱みを握る」, 「人の弱みにつけこむ」.²¹

弱よわみを人ひとに見みせたくない。⁴
"I don't want to show my weakness to others."

先生せんせいの話はなしにはいつも重おもみがある。⁷
"There is always weight to what the teacher says."

Literary and poetic contexts

～み carries a classical, literary flavour. 大辞泉 keeps a separate sense for 重み that survives only in classical-poetry discourse: 「連歌・俳諧で、観念的で古くさい作り方」, an old-fashioned, conceptual style of composition.¹³ The same register pulls ～み into adjectives where ～さ would feel clinical: 哀しみ (the classical kanji choice for 悲しみ), 苦しみ, 親しみ.

A specific pitfall lives in this corner. 静けさ is the standard nominalization for 静か; ×静けみ does not exist in standard Japanese.⁶ な-adjectives, including 静か, default to ～さ.

Idiomatic phrases that fix the suffix

A handful of high-frequency expressions lock the suffix in place. Memorizing them as set phrases is faster than working out the choice each time.

• 高みの見物 (watching from a safe vantage point): 大辞泉 records this as a fixed expression, not a productive use of 高み.⁹²³
• 深みにはまる (get bogged down in something): 大辞泉 cites this as the canonical example of 深み's deep-place sense.¹⁴
• 親しみを込めて (affectionately, with warmth): the noun 親しみ slots into 込めて idiomatically.⁷
• 楽しみにしている (looking forward to it): built on the anticipation sense of 楽しみ.¹⁸
• 弱みを握る (hold someone's weak point): a fixed pair, dictionary-attested.²¹

高たかみの見物けんぶつを決きめ込こんでいた。⁹
"He'd settled in to watch from the sidelines."

旅行りょこうを楽たのしみにしている。¹⁸
"I'm looking forward to the trip."

Good to know

Coining ～み on adjectives that do not take it

The biggest learner mistake is treating ～み as freely productive. 日本語教師のN1et lists 長い, 白い, 黒い, うれしい, 涼しい, おいしい among adjectives that explicitly reject ～み. Coinages like ×長み, ×白み, ×うれしみ are ungrammatical.⁷ When in doubt, ～さ is always safe. ～み is a vocabulary item to memorize, not a rule to apply.

For naming a measurable dimension, the standard form is built on ～さ:

この建物たてものの長ながさを測はかる。⁷
"I measure the length of this building."

Treating 楽しみ and 楽しさ as interchangeable

楽しみ is an anticipated pleasure or a personal hobby. 楽しさ is the abstract degree of fun. 大辞泉 sense 1 for 楽しみ is 「たのしむ物事。趣味や娯楽」, with the example 「釣りが唯一の楽しみです」. The cotohajime teacher's page makes the rule explicit: 楽しみ is subjective and based on personal experience, while 楽しさ is an objective measure that many people share.¹⁸²⁰

For "my only pleasure is the after-work drink," the correct form is 楽しみ:

仕事しごとのあとの一杯いっぱいが唯一ゆいいつの楽たのしみです。²⁰
"A drink after work is my only pleasure."

Using ～み on a compound-adjective stem

～さ chains cleanly with compound stems (使いやすさ, 読みにくさ, 食べやすさ); ～み does not.⁵ The closed-roster constraint on ～み rules out productive stem compounding, so ×使いやすみ, ×食べやすみ, ×読みにくみ are all ungrammatical. This is one of the clearest diagnostics for which suffix you are dealing with.

このアプリの使つかいやすさが好すきだ。⁵
"I like how easy this app is to use."

Wakamono Kotoba ～み in formal writing

Maggie Sensei observes that young speakers create new words by attaching ～み to anything. Seraku (2021) documents this as a Wakamono Kotoba (youth language) expansion that puts ～み on verbs, nouns, pronouns, and onomatopoeia in casual speech.⁸¹⁰ Coinages such as 尊み, つらみ, しんどみ, わかりみ, and ありがたみ read as casual and slangy. They are out of place in essays, business writing, or JLPT prose. Stick to the textbook roster in writing.

The ～み noun / ～む verb pair

A useful predictor inside the closed roster is the sibling verb. Many ～み nouns sit beside a ～む verb on the same classical adjective stem: 楽しい / 楽しむ / 楽しみ, 悲しい / 悲しむ / 悲しみ, 苦しい / 苦しむ / 苦しみ, 痛い / 痛む / 痛み. Tofugu states this directly: emotion-based ～み nouns have a verb equivalent that ends in む. The nouns are thought to have originated from the verb form rather than from the adjective form.² 加藤恵梨's paper studies this exact pairing across the emotion-adjective set.²⁴ Knowing the pair predicts both the ～み noun's existence and its emotion-noun reading.

酸味 and 旨味 are 音読み compounds, not productive ～み

酸味 (sour taste) and 旨味 (savoury, umami) are written kanji + 味 and read as 音読み Sino-Japanese compounds, not as ～み nominalizations of 酸い or 旨い. They look like ～み members and behave semantically like them. But Tofugu's note that the kanji 味 is used instead of the hiragana み flags the spelling distinction.² Treat them as taste vocabulary rather than as evidence that the ～み suffix is productive on those stems.

"Number it, さ it. Feel it, み it."

This is the single cleanest test, distilled from Maggie Sensei's objective-vs-subjective contrast.⁸ If you can put a unit on the property (kg, m, °C) or rank it on a scale, ～さ is the right call. If you would describe the property as a sensation, a vantage, or an emotion noun, try ～み, but check the closed roster first.

な-adjective + ～み as memorized vocabulary

The な-adjective + み combination is essentially closed. Tofugu cites 真剣み, 新鮮み, and 重厚み as the textbook holdouts.² These three are examples that show up in the literature, not an exhaustive list. Treat them as memorized vocabulary and default to ～さ for any other な-adjective.

See also

• Attributive vs. Predicative Adjectives in Japanese: Why 静か Needs な But 大きい Does Not
• い-Adjective Conjugation in Japanese: All Tenses and Forms
• な-Adjective Conjugation in Japanese: All Tenses and Forms
• Parts of Speech in Japanese: The 10 Classes (品詞)
• Compound Verbs in Japanese (複合動詞): The V1-Stem + V2 Pattern

References

Footnotes

1. Tofugu. "Japanese Adjective Suffix さ." https://www.tofugu.com/japanese-grammar/adjective-suffix-sa/ (limitation) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹

2. Tofugu. "Japanese Adjective Suffix み." https://www.tofugu.com/japanese-grammar/adjective-suffix-mi/ (limitation) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²²

3. Bunpro. "さ (JLPT N4)." https://bunpro.jp/grammar_points/%E3%81%95 (limitation) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵

4. Bunpro. "み (JLPT N3)." https://bunpro.jp/grammar_points/%E3%81%BF (limitation) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹

5. 日本語先生の日本語ノート. 「【名詞化】『〜さ』と『〜み』の性質と違い」. https://nihongonote.com/post-207/ (limitation) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰

6. 日本語教師のN1et. "JLPT文法解説：さ(形容詞の名詞化) N4 「み」と「さ」の違い." https://jn1et.com/sa-keiyousinomeisika/ (limitation) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴

7. 日本語教師のN1et. "JLPT文法解説：み N３ (形容詞の名詞化) 「み」と「さ」の違い." https://jn1et.com/mi-keiyousimeisika/ (limitation) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷

8. Maggie Sensei. "The difference between さ & み (sa & mi) suffixes to make a noun." https://maggiesensei.com/2017/04/17/the-difference-between-%E3%81%95-%E3%81%BF-sa-mi-suffixes-to-make-a-noun/ (limitation) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹

9. 小学館. 『デジタル大辞泉』, entry 「高みの見物(たかみのけんぶつ)」. Via kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E9%AB%98%E3%81%BF%E3%81%AE%E8%A6%8B%E7%89%A9-559456 ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

10. Seraku, Tohru. "Mi-nominalizations in Japanese Wakamono Kotoba 'youth language.'" Pragmatics 31 (2), 2021, pp. 278–302. John Benjamins. https://www.jbe-platform.com/content/journals/10.1075/prag.20006.ser ↩ ↩² ↩³

11. Wikipedia (English). "Japanese adjectives." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_adjectives (limitation) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

12. Wiktionary (English). "良い." https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E8%89%AF%E3%81%84 (limitation) ↩ ↩² ↩³

13. 小学館. 『デジタル大辞泉』, entry 「重み(おもみ)」. Via kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E9%87%8D%E3%81%BF-450060 ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰

14. 小学館. 『デジタル大辞泉』, entry 「深み(ふかみ)」. Via kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E6%B7%B1%E3%81%BF-616797 ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹

15. 小学館. 『デジタル大辞泉』, entry 「甘み(あまみ)」. Via kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E7%94%98%E3%81%BF-427173 ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

16. 小学館. 『精選版 日本国語大辞典』, entry 「重み(おもみ)」. Via kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E9%87%8D%E3%81%BF-450060 ↩

17. 小学館. 『精選版 日本国語大辞典』, entry 「深み(ふかみ)」. Via kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E6%B7%B1%E3%81%BF-616797 ↩

18. 小学館. 『デジタル大辞泉』, entry 「楽しみ(たのしみ)」. Via kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E6%A5%BD%E3%81%97%E3%81%BF-562108 ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

19. 小学館. 『デジタル大辞泉』, entry 「楽しむ(たのしむ)」. Via kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E6%A5%BD%E3%81%97%E3%82%80-562111 ↩ ↩² ↩³

20. 日本語教師・コトハジメ. 「『楽しさ』と『楽しみ』の違いはなんですか？」. https://cotohajime.net/2022/04/01/adjective-plus-sa-mi/ (limitation) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

21. 小学館. 『デジタル大辞泉』, entry 「弱み(よわみ)」. Via kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%BC%B1%E3%81%BF-654268 ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

22. 小学館. 『精選版 日本国語大辞典』, entry 「弱み(よわみ)」. Via kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%BC%B1%E3%81%BF-654268 ↩

23. 三省堂. 『ことわざを知る辞典』, entry 「高みの見物」. Via kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E9%AB%98%E3%81%BF%E3%81%AE%E8%A6%8B%E7%89%A9-559456 ↩ ↩²

24. 加藤恵梨 (大手前大学). 「感情を表す『さ名詞』と『み名詞』について」. 日本語学会第42回大会予稿集. https://conference.wdc-jp.com/jass/42/contents/common/doc/P-04.pdf ↩ ↩² ↩³