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
- 朝から何も食べていないので、お腹がぺこぺこだ。I have not eaten a thing since morning and my stomach is completely empty.
- お腹がぺこぺこの状態で走ると、力が出ない。Running on an empty stomach, you have no strength.
ぽかぽか · to be pleasantly warm
Warmth spreading through the whole body: spring sun, a hot spring, 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, someone straight out of the bath. The 半濁点 in ぽ cuts it loose from any source: the warmth arises by itself, from the sun and the weather, with nothing wrapped around you — Japanese says ぽかぽか陽気 for a mild sunny day, never ほかほか陽気. Warmth you have to wrap yourself in is ぬくぬく.
Examples
- 春の日差しで、体が芯からぽかぽかする。The spring sunshine leaves me pleasantly warm right through.
- 風のない小春日和で、日なたに座っているだけで体じゅうがぽかぽかだ。A windless, mild late-autumn day: just sitting in the sun leaves my whole body 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
- 船に酔って、吐き気で胃がむかむかする。I got seasick and my stomach is churning.
- 脂っこい物を食べすぎて、吐き気が胃の底からむかむかとこみ上げる。I ate too much greasy food and nausea keeps rising from the pit of my stomach.
むずむず · to itch
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
- 花粉症で、痒くて我慢できないほど鼻がむずむずする。My hay fever makes my nose itch past all bearing.
- 虫に刺された所が痒くて、かきむしりたくなるほどむずむずとして落ち着かない。The insect bite itches so badly I want to scratch it raw; I cannot sit still.
かっか · to burn with heat
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
- 恥ずかしさで耳まで赤くなり、顔が焼けるように熱くなってかっかする。Shame turned me red to the ears and my face is burning hot.
- 言い返せなかった悔しさで顔のほてりが引かず、焼けるように熱く、まだかっかしている。The frustration of having had no answer keeps the flush on my face; it is still burning hot.
ぬくぬく · to be snug and warm
Warmth that wraps around you: a quilt, a thick coat.
Enveloping warmth rather than radiating warmth. ぽかぽか arises by itself, from the sun and the weather, with nothing wrapped around you (ぽかぽか陽気). ほかほか is the warmth of something freshly heated: rice straight from the pot, a bun out of the steamer. ぬくぬく is warmth you have to wrap yourself in, and it speaks of the person who is snug in it.
Examples
- 湯たんぽを入れた柔らかい布団に肩まですっぽり包まれて、朝までぬくぬくと温かい。I slipped a hot-water bottle into the soft bedding, and wrapped in it up to my shoulders I stay snug and warm until morning.
- 厚くて柔らかいダウンジャケットが体を包み込むように温かく、雪の日でも着ている人はぬくぬくしていられる。A thick, soft down jacket wraps right around the body, so whoever wears it stays snug and warm even on a snowy day.
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
- 運動不足で、お腹の肉がつまめるほど重く柔らかくなってぶよぶよだ。For want of exercise my belly has gone heavy and soft enough to take hold of.
- 久しぶりに鏡を見たら、締まりのない、重くて柔らかいぶよぶよの体になっていた。I looked in the mirror after a long time: my body had gone slack, heavy and flabby.
Where this comes from
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