Sunday, June 27, 2021

Japanese Words for the Rainy Season

It's that time of year again - tsuyu 梅雨 (つゆ) or in English, rainy season. It seems like there are a lot of weather words in English, but I think there are many more words in Japanese. There must be hundreds for the rainy season alone, but that is more than I know. Many of these Japanese words are onomatopoeia, the words that sound like what they describe. You can just imagine what it is by the sound the word makes. Here are a few words for the rainy season.


ame  雨 (あめ) - rain 

bisho bisho - drenched to the skin

byoo - byoo - strong howling wind 

doshaburi - downpour

goro - goro - the rumble of thunder 

jakuu  - weak rain

kasa 傘 (かさ) - umbrella 

kirisame - drizzle

konukaame - fine rain

kumori 曇り (くもり) - cloudy 

niwaka ame - sudden shower 

oo-ame  (おお)    (あめ). - torrential rain

pika - pika - the sparkle of the lightning

potsu-potsu - raindrops hitting dry ground 

shito-shito - drizzle 

tsuyuake 梅雨明け (つゆあけ)  - the end of the rainy season

tsuyubare 梅雨晴 (つゆばれ) - sunny spell during the rainy season

zah-zah - pouring rain 





雨がすごく降っています
Ame ga sugoku futte imasu


It's raining cats and dogs.

7 comments:

kiwikid said...

Interesting and it is raining here this morning. Love the cartoon.

crazyQstitcher said...

I agree the descriptive names are interesting and I love the cartoon also. All sunny here

Queeniepatch said...

I think the number of expressions reflect how important one sees the weather. Check out this list of words in Finnish for snow. https://everything2.com/title/Finnish+words+for+snow
In Japanese onomatopoeia can be found in many fields, sound, light, temperature for example.
I love the sweet, childish feeling of them. It is also so much easier to remember a sound if it is repeated, helpful when Japanese is not one's native language.
Also have you noticed that the Japanese love to repeat other words (bye bye, ne ne, hai hai, chigau chigau, so so, pa pa...) It is considered uncultivated to answer a request with 'Hai hai', and one is often reprimanded with: 'Yes should only be used once.' to which some answer: Wakatta wakatta!

Julie Fukuda said...

One of the first songs I learned was: Ame ame fure fure kaasan ga, jiya no me de omukae ureshii na. pichi pichi, chapu chapu ran ran ran.

Lyn Warner said...

I shall show this to my grandson who is learning Japanese and really enjoying it. Sunny in Brisbane today after two days of a little very welcome rain, but no cats and dogs.

Jeanie said...

Our doshoburi is one day after another of zah zah.

Leonore Winterer said...

I knew a couple of those words, but not all of them! How interesting.