土砂降り

Japanese

Kanji in this term
土 砂 降
ど
Grade: 1		 しゃ
Grade: 6		 ふ > ぶ
Grade: 6

Etymology

Compound of 土砂 (dosha, “soil and sand”) +‎ 降り (furi, “falling”, the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of verb 降る furu, “to fall”, such as rain or other precipitation).[1][2] The furi changes to buri as an instance of rendaku (連濁).

The dosha portion is a metaphor for heavy rain. Compare the English expression to rain cats and dogs, or to rain pitchforks and hammer handles.

Pronunciation

Alternative forms

Noun

土砂降り (hiragana どしゃぶり, rōmaji doshaburi)

  1. a downpour, pelting rain

Usage notes

The dosha portion is sometimes spelled in hiragana, as どしゃ降り. Unlike the synonyms, doshaburi is only used in reference to rain, and is not used to describe snowfall.

Derived terms

Synonyms

  • 本 (ほん)降 (ぶ)り (honburi): a real rainfall (also describes snowfall)
  • 大 (おお)降 (ぶ)り (ōburi): a big rainfall (also describes snowfall)

References

  1. ↑ 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
  2. 1 2 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  3. ↑ 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, →ISBN
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