KOKKI-RI こっきり
Meanings
Follows a number or expression of frequency to emphasize that something ends after only that amount or number of times, with nothing further to follow.
Examples
My older brother let me play the game only once.
兄は私にゲームを１回こっきりしかやらせてくれなかった。
In the end, I was invited to the meeting just once and never again.
私が会合に呼ばれたのは、結局１回こっきりであった。
Dogmatic Opinion
KOKKI-RI is basically used with a very small number, especially in expressions such as IKKAI KOKKIRI—“only once.”
Although the literal idea is that nothing follows after that number, you would not say “10,000 times KOKKI-RI.” The number needs to feel conspicuously small.
I also sense disappointment that something ended after so few occasions and never continued. That is why I would not naturally say, “Dinner with that person I dislike was just that one time KOKKIRI.” If I was glad there was no second dinner, the emotional direction does not fit my image of the expression.
Proximate Expression
only
Related Words
For Japanese Learners
Only, just, just once, one time only, or no more than may fit. “一回こっきり” is “just once” or “one time only.” KOKKI-RI does more than state a number: it emphasizes that the series stopped there, often with a sense that the small number was disappointingly limited.
