To take on an air of: 〜めく

Attached to a noun, 〜めく means “to take on the air of, to begin to resemble”: the thing isn't quite that noun, but it already has its colour. You meet it mainly in two cases: changing weather (春めく, 秋めく) and a way of speaking or being that has a hint of something (謎めいた, 皮肉めいた, 冗談めいた). It's a written, slightly literary word.

• 三月に入り、日差しもすっかり春めいてきた。さんがつにはいり、ひざしもすっかりはるめいてきた。March has arrived, and the sunshine has taken on a real touch of spring.
• 彼は謎めいた笑みを浮かべて、部屋を出ていった。かれはなぞめいたえみをうかべて、へやをでていった。He gave an enigmatic smile and left the room.
• 皮肉めいた言い方はやめてもらえませんか。ひにくめいたいいかたはやめてもらえませんか。Could you stop talking in that faintly sarcastic tone?

めく is an old suffix that turns a noun into a verb: “to become a little like this noun, to take on its look”. The thing isn't yet the noun (or not really), but you can already sense the signs.

In English, depending on the case, it comes out as “to take on an air of”, “to have something of”, or as an adjective: 謎めいた = “enigmatic”, 皮肉めいた = “faintly sarcastic”.

• 日差しもすっかり春めいてきた。ひざしもすっかりはるめいてきた。The sunshine has taken on a real touch of spring.
• 庭の木々も、少しずつ秋めいてきた。にわのきぎも、すこしずつあきめいてきた。The trees in the garden are gradually turning autumnal.

Noun + めく, then conjugate めく like a う-verb (書く → 書いた). Before a noun, you almost always use めいた; for a change setting in, めいてきた; for a state, めいている.

The related transitive verb めかす (“to give the air of”) is mainly found in 冗談めかして: “passing it off as a joke”.

• 彼の話は、どこか作り話めいている。かれのはなしは、どこかつくりばなしめいている。There's something made-up about his story.
• 彼は冗談めかして、会社を辞めたいと言った。かれはじょうだんめかして、かいしゃをやめたいといった。Half-jokingly, he said he wanted to leave the company.

With the seasons (春・秋・冬), めく describes a gradual change: you see the first signs. 春めく and 秋めく are very common; 夏めく and 冬めく exist but are rarer, mostly poetic.

With words like 謎・皮肉・冗談・言い訳・説教・脅し, めく says a remark or an attitude has the flavour of that noun without being it outright: a veiled reproach, a half-spoken threat.

• 上司の説教めいた話が一時間も続いた。じょうしのせっきょうめいたはなしがいちじかんもつづいた。My boss's talk, which sounded rather like a sermon, went on for an hour.
• その手紙には脅しめいた言葉が並んでいた。そのてがみにはおどしめいたことばがならんでいた。The letter was full of words that sounded like threats.

All four suffixes say “that resembles”, but they aren't used the same way. めく is written and suggests signs that are appearing. らしい says something has the typical qualities of what it is (春らしい天気: proper spring weather). っぽい is spoken and approximate. じみる is almost always pejorative: “that smacks (too much) of”.

• 今日は春らしい暖かい一日だった。きょうははるらしいあたたかいいちにちだった。Today was a proper spring day, nice and mild.
• いい大人が、そんな子どもじみたことを言うな。いいおとなが、そんなこどもじみたことをいうな。A grown adult shouldn't say such childish things!