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Voicing pairs: た–ほ – Japanese mimetics

とろとろ and どろどろ, はらはら and ばらばら – four pairs from た to ほ, where the voicing mark makes things thicker and heavier.

たらたら · to run down in a thin thread

Rainwater running down a wall, blood from a split lip.

たらたら is an unbroken thin thread — rainwater off the eaves, water from a tap, blood from a split lip. Sweat runs both ways in Japanese, 汗がたらたら and 汗がだらだら, so sweat is not what tells these two apart. Drop-by-drop dripping is ぽたぽた, not this word.

Examples

  • 傷口きずぐちから血ちが止とまらず、細ほそくたらたらと流ながれる。Blood keeps running from the cut in a thin thread.
  • 壁かべを雨水あまみずが細ほそい筋すじになってたらたらと伝つたう。Rainwater runs down the wall in a thin thread.

だらだら · to drag on endlessly

A three-hour meeting.

Voiced だ adds weight and reluctance: たらたら stays with the thin thread, while 汗がだらだら流れる is still liquid, only too much of it for too long. From there it is a short step to 会議がだらだら続く. The neighbours are about other things: ぐずぐず is an accusation levelled at a person who cannot get started (ぐずぐずするな), whereas だらだら describes the event itself dragging on; ずるずる always drags something along — noodles pulled in with a slurp, or a deadline that keeps being pushed back — while だらだら drags nothing, it simply goes on and will not end.

Examples

  • 緊張感きんちょうかんのない会議かいぎが三時間さんじかんもだらだらと続つづいた。The slack meeting dragged on for three hours.
  • 結論けつろんの出でない会議かいぎが午後ごごじゅうだらだらしている。A meeting with no conclusion drags all afternoon.

とろとろ · to be thick and smooth

Melted cheese, a soft-set egg yolk.

Voiceless と keeps the thickness light and edible — voiced ど, the other half of this pair, turns it into どろどろ, mud you do not eat. Nor is it ぐつぐつ: that word says nothing about thickness, only that the pot is bubbling (鍋がぐつぐつ煮える). Of a dish you say とろとろだ, とろとろした (卵, チーズ), とろとろになる or とろとろと煮る. Note: とろとろする on its own, said of a person, means “to doze off” (授業中にとろとろする).

Examples

  • ゆっくり溶とかしたチョコは甘あまく、とろとろだ。Slowly melted chocolate is sweet and silky-thick.
  • 焼やきたてのチーズが溶とけてとろとろだ。Fresh from the oven, the cheese has melted gooey.

どろどろ · to be muddy

Ground after a downpour, boots off a field.

Voiced ど adds weight and dirt — the same thickness, now inedible: とろとろ stays light enough to eat (melted cheese), どろどろ is mud you do not.

Examples

  • 雨あめを吸すった畑はたけは重おもく、どろどろだ。The rain-soaked field is heavy and muddy.
  • 水みずを含ふくんだ重おもい泥どろが靴くつの底そこでどろどろしている。Heavy, wet mud turns to sludge under the sole.

はらはら · to drift down one by one (petals, tears)

Tears one after another, ash off an incense stick.

はらはら is the slow fall of small things, one after another — and that is what this card teaches. ひらひら describes the manner in which one thing moves, turning over in the air (a ribbon, a handkerchief), while はらはら is a succession of many falling one behind the other. ちらちら comes in gaps and never settles, like the fine snow you see one moment and not the next. Note: the word has a second and today commoner sense, and that is the one that takes する: はらはらする means “to fret, to watch anxiously” (試合を見ていてはらはらした) — close there to ひやひや, except that ひやひや is a cold dread of the risk that runs down your back, and はらはら the worry of an onlooker watching from the side. It is not the same thing said differently — 涙がはらはらする is not Japanese. Falling is はらはらと散る, はらはらと落ちる — this card teaches the と form; plain はらはら散る also occurs, but never with する.

Examples

  • 風かぜもなく金木犀きんもくせいの花はながゆっくりはらはらと散ちり落おちる。With no wind, osmanthus flowers slowly drop.
  • 切きった細ほそい髪かみが、ゆっくり肩かたにはらはらと落おちる。Fine cut hair drifts slowly onto the shoulder.

ばらばら · to fall apart

A smashed plate, a collapsing model.

ばらばら is scattering and coming apart — 皿がばらばらになる, 意見がばらばら. It makes no pair with はらはら: there something drifts down, here something stops being whole. ガシャン is no state at all but a single blow to the ear — the crash of breaking glass at the moment the plate hits the floor; ばらばら names what is left afterwards.

Examples

  • 落おとした皿さらがすっかり割われてばらばらになった。The dropped plate smashed completely to pieces.
  • 大おおきな硬かたい模型もけいが壊こわれて、部品ぶひんがばらばらだ。The big, hard model broke; its parts lie loose.

ほろほろ · to crumble gently

Stewed meat, steamed fish.

Voiceless ほ keeps the crumbling soft and wanted — that is how good meat should give way; ぼろぼろ is a coming-apart nobody wanted and nobody can undo, worn-through shoes rather than stewed beef.

Examples

  • クッキーが口くちの中なかでほろほろと崩くずれた。The cookie crumbled gently in my mouth.
  • 蒸むした魚さかなの身みが、ほろほろとほぐれる。The steamed fish flakes gently apart.

ぼろぼろ · to be tattered

A ten-year-old bag, worn-through shoes.

Voiced ぼ turns pleasant crumbling into ruin: ほろほろ falls apart the way it was meant to — stewed meat under a fork — and ぼろぼろ the way it was not; the same falling apart, only slow and past saving.

Examples

  • 十年じゅうねん使つかった鞄かばんはすっかりぼろぼろだ。A bag used for ten years is in tatters.
  • 長年ながねん履はいた靴くつが、すっかりぼろぼろになった。Shoes worn for years have fallen apart.

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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See also

Learning Japanese