Japanese Language Stack Exchange
Japanese Language Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [idioms]

慣用句・ことわざ. Phrases with fixed words used as a single unit, typically with a meaning beyond what is obvious from its constituent parts.

Questions about those phrases with fixed words used as a single unit, which typically have a meaning beyond what is obvious from its constituent parts.

Related tags


  • fixed phrases acting as units, but with meanings which are obvious from the sum of their parts.

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Japanese idioms of improbability

I'm sure most (English speakers) have heard terms like: when pigs fly or when hell freezes over or when the Cubs win the World Series [obsolete] (U.S. only) Am wondering if there is anything similar in Japanese. Wikipedia has a list but…
Y12K
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How to understand 節がある?

According to weblio, 節｛ふし｝がある is defined as follow: 着眼点としてある。そのようにも思われる。「思い当たるふしがある」や、「県警は当初、事件を隠蔽しようとしていたふしがある」などのように用いられる。 "Interesting" point. Considered to be like this. Used like 「思い当たるふしがある」 and 「県警は当初、事件を隠蔽しようとしていたふしがある」. But I can't grasp…
永劫回帰
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Is there a figurative use to 春風?

I often hear 春風【はるかぜ】(or, much less often, 春風【しゅんぷう】) used to describe the characteristically windy weather of early Spring. I was also certain I had heard it used on occasions as a figurative expression, to mean something akin to "Spring cleaning"…
Dave
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How did the ざ in 様{ざま}みろ get the dakuten?

I am under impression that the first syllable in a word gets a dakuten when it is transformed into voiced form under the effect of rendaku. But in the idiomatic expression 様みろ {ざまみろ}, the kanji 様 which is read as さま gets voiced and obtains the…
Lukman
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"Never say never"

Since there is apparently no literal translation for "never", how would you translate this idiom ? What periphrasis would you use to express the same meaning ?
Aki
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What does the idiom 体が余る mean?

I found a list of Japanese idioms (without translations) that I wanted to study, so I sat down and looked up the meanings. Most of them I found in my trusty denshi jishyo, and a couple of them I had to resort to some internet resources (goo, Google…
silvermaple
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Question on the idiom 頭が回転しない

I found the following dialogue on lang-8: A: 駄目だ、飲み過ぎて頭が回転しない。 B: 仕事、明日にしたら？ A: Oh no, I drank too much so I can't concentrate on it. B: Why not do your work tomorrow? So does 頭が回転する　mean "able to concentrate" or am I misunderstanding it? In…
yadokari
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idiom along the lines of "you get more relatives as you get famous"

Overheard something that sounds like "うれるど親戚 {しんせき} かくれる"(must be mistakes somewhere since there's no search result for the phrase). Kind of a sarcastic/joking idiom, saying that as a person gets famous, they will appear to have more distant…
egwene sedai
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What does 鴨が葱を背負って来る mean?

I checked the meaning of Farfetch'd on Bulbapedia and it says it is "カモネギ", likely to be inspired by "鴨が葱を背負って来る", meaning "something surprising, but convenient". What does "surprising but convenient" mean? Is it like an idiom or phrase that is…
nonopolarity
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Knight in Shining Armor - Idioms

while working on some translations I ran across the phrase: 輝く鎧の騎士. A character was refered to as this. Google tells me it translates to "knight in shining armor". My question is thus: Is that the idiomatic equivalent of the phrase in English,…
HadesHerald
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魚心あれば水心あり: what does 心 do exactly?

According to JapanDict, this proverb literally means "if a fish is friendly toward water, water will be kind to the fish too" (although Wiktionary says it's the other way around...). Is that really a literal translation? If it is, then where does…
kuchitsu
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Is there a Japanese equivalent to the phrase, "when in Rome"?

Is there a Japanese equivalent to the phrase, "when in Rome"?
Morella Almånd
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"over in the blink of an eye"?

What is the idiom "in the blink of an eye" in Japanese? I want to use it to say that two years will be over in the blink of an eye or "before you even notice". (For a detailed discussion and examples of the English idiom please see e.g. here)
ナウシカ
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Is there an idiomatic meaning for 口の中?

I read this phrase in a book: ・・・・[彼]は口の中でうなった。 I'm guessing the うなった is 唸った, or groan, but I'm curious as to if 口の中 has a meaning or implication other than the obvious, inside his mouth. How does one groan if not inside one's mouth? My best guess…
silvermaple
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御輿の上のあれなんだろう. Is this an idiom, perhaps?

there is a line from a soccer manga that I don't understand. I get what it means, literally, but it's so randomly placed that I wonder if this is an idiom or if I might be missing some context or something because I don't get it at all. This is a…
Marcela alvarez centeno
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