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I have read that verbs in Japanese are a closed class. That is to say: not
counting inflections, there is some relatively fixed number of "true verbs" in
the language. By "true verbs" I am excluding compound verbs formed with
[noun]+する, or really [noun]+[verb] of any type. If this is the case, surely
there is some estimate of roughly how many such verbs exist? I believe that
_i_ -adjectives are also a closed class, and I'd be curious about their number
as well.
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2020-09-01T17:14:12.670
80453
2020-09-04T02:45:10.393
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question
words verbs i-adjectives
How many true verbs and i-adjectives are there in Japanese?
Coining new godan verbs (u-verbs) is far from exceptional in modern Japanese,
and we have many related questions on this site.

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  * [Meaning and validity of 雪ってる](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/29856/5010)
  * [What does ゴリってる mean?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/33426/5010)
  * [Pronunciation Troubles with トラブル and トラブる: Loanwords with both noun and verb ending in ru mora](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/62780/5010)

I listed some well-known ones in the comment section, but just to support
this, here are some **rare** u-verbs I happen to know personally:

  * **ジャムる** : "to be jammed" (gun, military jargon)
  * **バベる** : "to transpile JavaScript source files using [Babel](https://babeljs.io/)" (programmer's jargon)
  * **ばみる** : "to use plastic tape to mark the positions of actors on stage" (actor's jargon)
  * **メタる** : "to defeat an opponent with the aid of [metagame](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metagaming)" (card gamer's jargon)
  * **アポる** : "to develop a brain infarction" (medical argot)
  * **サチる** : "to saturate; to reach the limit" (data scientist's jargon)
  * **マミる** : "to be decapitated" (anime fan's jargon)
  * **タヒる** : "to die" (from the bottom part of 死)
  * **へごる** : "to say something funny unintentionally" ([Ayaka Ohashi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayaka_%C5%8Chashi)'s fan's jargon)
  * **ジュレる** : "to be half-frozen" (leaves, gardening jargon)

Okay, these are used only in small communities, and I think less than 10% of
native Japanese speakers know them. But I believe words like these are coined
almost every day somewhere in Japan, and this is exactly why u-verbs are
productive in Japanese.

On the other hand, the number of Japanese 助動詞 is relatively small and you can
see the [full
list](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8A%A9%E5%8B%95%E8%A9%9E_\(%E5%9B%BD%E6%96%87%E6%B3%95\))
in Japanese Wikipedia.

* * *

Anyway, if you want a rough estimation, according to [this
page](http://8723-1k.blogspot.com/2009/10/blog-post.html), the number of
Japanese verbs listed in a certain dictionary is 10,265 (but this should
include lexicalized compound verbs like 取り戻す). 国研日本語語彙DB recognizes 236
i-adjectives, but according to [this
page](https://oshiete.goo.ne.jp/qa/45556.html), the number of Japanese
i-adjectives recognized by ATOK9 is much larger (1,302). 『品詞別日本文法講座4 形容詞・形容動詞』
by Suzuki et al lists 1,343 i-adjectives (and archaic precursors).

* * *

**EDIT:** I should've mentioned this... **Ichidan** (ru-) verbs are
"relatively closed". According to [this
page](http://jgrammar.life.coocan.jp/ja/colum011.htm), there are only **40**
ichidan verbs that end with -iru (excluding compound verbs and archaic verbs).
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answer