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Body and feeling – Japanese mimetics

Warmth, hunger, nausea and itching – Japanese words for what the body feels, with examples and translations.

ぺこぺこ · to be hungry

An empty stomach — the everyday word for hunger.

Half-voiced ぺ is light and a little pitiful. It speaks of emptiness, not pain.

Examples

  • 朝あさから何なにも食たべていないので、お腹なかがぺこぺこだ。I haven't eaten since morning; I'm starving.
  • お腹なかがぺこぺこの状態じょうたいで走はしると、力ちからが出でない。Running on an empty stomach, you have no strength.

ぽかぽか · to be pleasantly warmed through (sun, weather, a walk)

Warmth spreading through the whole body: spring sun, walking yourself warm.

The 清音／半濁音 pair is real here: ほかほか and ぽかぽか. Voiceless ほ keeps the warmth attached to something freshly heated — rice straight from the pot, a bun out of the steamer. The 半濁点 in ぽ moves it into the body: ぽかぽか is warmth spreading through you — from the sun, after a bath, from a hot-water bottle or a kotatsu (体がぽかぽかする). Only it names the weather, too: ぽかぽか陽気 for a mild sunny day, never ほかほか陽気. ぬくぬく is not about warmth spreading through the body but about being tucked away in warmth, and the comfort of whoever is inside.

Examples

  • 春はるの日差ひざしで、体からだが芯しんからぽかぽかする。The spring sun warms me pleasantly right through.
  • 小春日和こはるびよりで、日ひなたにいると体からだがぽかぽかだ。Indian summer: in the sun I'm pleasantly warm.

むかむか · to feel nauseous

Your stomach rises; also: simmering anger.

む carries no 濁点 and still sounds muffled and heavy — the nausea wells up inside, without sharp pain. The nasal m is itself voiced: 清音 means no diacritic, not no voice.

Examples

  • 船ふねに酔よって、吐はき気けで胃いがむかむかする。I got seasick and my stomach is churning.
  • 食たべすぎで胃いから吐はき気けがむかむかとこみ上あげる。I overate; nausea keeps rising from my stomach.

むずむず · to itch (skin, nose)

An itch that will not let you sit still.

Voiced ず adds persistence: it does not itch once, it keeps itching. An itch, not a pain: ちくちく pricks and hurts, むずむず only itches and will not let you settle. The same restlessness on the pleasant side is うずうず — nothing itches there, you simply cannot wait to get on with something.

Examples

  • 花粉症かふんしょうで、鼻はながむずむずして痒かゆい。Hay fever makes my nose itch and tickle.
  • 虫むしが這はうように、腕うでがむずむずと痒かゆい。My arm itches as if bugs were crawling on it.

かっか · to burn, to flush hot (face, head)

A face or head on fire: shame, anger, fever.

The small っ inside gives a burst of heat that the repeated ぽかぽか lacks — there the warmth is mild and pleasant.

Examples

  • 恥はずかしさで、顔かおが燃もえるようにかっかする。Shame sets my face burning hot.
  • 悔くやしさで顔かおがほてり、まだかっかしている。Stung with frustration, my face still burns.

ぬくぬく · to be snug, wrapped up warm (a quilt, a coat)

Warmth that wraps around you: a quilt, a thick coat.

Warmth you sit in rather than warmth you feel. ぽかぽか is warmth spreading through the body — from the sun, after a bath, from a hot-water bottle or a kotatsu (体がぽかぽかする). ぬくぬく is being tucked away in warmth — under the covers, in a kotatsu — and the comfort of whoever is inside, often set against someone else's cold (布団の中でぬくぬく, 外は寒いのにぬくぬくしている). ほかほか is the warmth of something freshly heated: rice straight from the pot, a bun out of the steamer.

Examples

  • 寒さむい朝あさは、布団ふとんから出でずにぬくぬくしていたい。On cold mornings I want to stay snug in bed.
  • 弟おとうとは暖あたたかい部屋へやでぬくぬくと過すごす。My brother lazes snugly in a warm room.

ぶよぶよ · to be flabby and soft

A body that has lost its firmness.

The 濁点 makes the softness unhealthy and heavy. Light ふわふわ is not its voiceless counterpart — that would be ふよふよ; ふわふわ differs in its second mora, not in a diacritic.

Examples

  • 運動不足うんどうぶそくで、お腹なかの肉にくがつまめるほどぶよぶよだ。No exercise: my belly's gone soft and flabby.
  • 重おもくて締しまりのないぶよぶよの体からだになった。My body has become heavy, slack and flabby.

Where this comes from

Everything above comes from the free part of the Onomatope app and has passed its content review.

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