What does the verb 好く do?


Observation:

  * The verb 好く exists.

  * 好く is transitive.

By extension, "to like ~" is predicted to be:

> a. ~を好く。

However, empirical data shows that this pattern is the accepted form:

> b. ~が好きだ。

Question: Is `~を好く` used and is it even grammatical? If it is not used, why is
it so?




**Is ~を好く used and is it even grammatical?**

It's grammatical, but hardly ever used in the form 好く in standard modern
Japanese.

However, the passive form 好かれる is quite common in standard Japanese.

Dialectal negative forms 好かん or 好かへん are also quite common in certain parts.

**If it is not used, why is it so?**

This is mostly me guessing, but I imagine that people shied away from the use
with the direct object marker を because it seemed a bit too... well... direct.

Why ～が好き instead of ～を好く? I think this might be for a similar reason that ～が嫌い
exists next to ～を嫌う. However, maybe it's more acceptable to be direct about
things that you dislike than things that you like, so ～を嫌う survived.

But then why not ～が好く with が on the object like many other verbs that have to
do with emotion? (Incidentally, ～が好かん takes が so this would fit into the
pattern.)




**Is ~を好く used and is it even grammatical?**

It's grammatical, but hardly ever used in the form 好く in standard modern
Japanese.

However, the passive form 好かれる is quite common in standard Japanese.

Dialectal negative forms 好かん or 好かへん are also quite common in certain parts.

**If it is not used, why is it so?**

This is mostly me guessing, but I imagine that people shied away from the use
with the direct object marker を because it seemed a bit too... well... direct.

Why ～が好き instead of ～を好く? I think this might be for a similar reason that ～が嫌い
exists next to ～を嫌う. However, maybe it's more acceptable to be direct about
things that you dislike than things that you like, so ～を嫌う survived.

But then why not ～が好く with が on the object like many other verbs that have to
do with emotion? (Incidentally, ～が好かん takes が so this would fit into the
pattern.)

