Adjective use of たかだか

Question

たかだか[髪]{かみ}が[伸]{の}びたくらいで。

I'm thinking たかだか髪 means roughly "very long hair". If so, I imagine the sentence would translate to "Very long hair grew about to that point." But, that doesn't make sense. "Hair grown like that is very long." might make more sense, but would be another pointless and obvious statement that a writer would be unlikely to write. The context, where the speaker is pondering the state of his friend's hair, would warrant something more like "His hair has grown quite long." I'm not sure, though, especially with the ending で.

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 25 '15 at 17:11

2

たかだか is an adverb and has no adjective use.

たかだかと — highly; aloft; sonorously
たかだか (without と) — merely; no more than; at most

answered Dec 25 '15 at 17:11

broccoli forest

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So, if たかだか is modifying 伸びた, "(His) hair grew no more than approximately that much."? – johnnd Dec 25 '15 at 18:28
Um, close but no. How do you understand the くらい? – broccoli forest Dec 25 '15 at 19:00
I thought it meant about or approximately. – johnnd Dec 25 '15 at 22:08
It's a possible translation, but the most basic definition of the word is "degree/level". – broccoli forest Dec 26 '15 at 04:29
His hair grew to that point. – johnnd Dec 26 '15 at 06:54
"This much of thing such that his hair has grown". See this answer or this link (hope Google Books won't reject you) for how Japanese relative clauses act like. – broccoli forest Dec 26 '15 at 07:47

Adjective use of たかだか

1 Answers1