土砂降り

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Japanese

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Kanji in this term

Grade: 1
しゃ
Grade: 6
ふ > ぶ
Grade: 6
kan'yōon goon kun'yomi
Alternative spellings
どしゃ降り
土砂降

Etymology

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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).

According to some sources,[3] the dosha portion is from adverb どしゃくしゃ (doshakusha, in a confusion, in a turmoil), with the 土砂 spelling used as ateji (当て字). According to other sources,[1] the dosha portion is a metaphor for heavy rain.

First appears in texts from the early 1900s.[1]

Compare the English expressions to rain cats and dogs, or to rain pitchforks and hammer handles.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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()(しゃ)() (doshaburi

  1. a downpour, pelting rain

Usage notes

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Unlike the synonyms, doshaburi is only used in reference to rain, and is not used to describe snowfall.

Synonyms

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References

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  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典(新装版) [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
  2. 2.0 2.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  3. 3.0 3.1 Kindaichi, Kyōsuke et al., editors (1997), 新明解国語辞典 [Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten] (in Japanese), Fifth edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  4. ^ NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN